


Setting Fire To The Sky

by robinauts



Category: CLAMP - Works, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, KuroFai Olympics, M/M, Slow Burn, Trans Character, just edited!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 51,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7746451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinauts/pseuds/robinauts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fai is the head witch in a city with a drought problem. Sakura is his amnesiac apprentice. Kurogane is the terse hunter who enters his town. Magical hijinks ensue.</p><p>Written for the 2016 KuroFai Olympics for Team Light, for the prompt "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my first KF fic! Wow, what a monster. I hope you enjoy this and share my general boner for urban fantasy.
> 
> There are lore notes for each chapter included in the chapter end notes, which basically give you a little insight into why I chose ingredients I did - it'll help you understand the namedrops. Don't read them before you finish each chapter, as they contain minor spoilers.
> 
> Please note that while I did borrow from pagan/witch web sources, I don't practice myself. I just think it's interesting. Also, I'm incredibly white, so all the fantasy creatures I included are from western/European sources. I'm not gonna go around using legendary creatures that are actually super important to some other culture I'm not from for my fanfiction, because I try to be a decent person.
> 
> Anyway, have fun reading!!
> 
> DATELINE - SEPTEMBER 23RD, 2016 - So I just went back through and edited a few things from the original posting. It was really just some tidying up, making themes and elements easier to understand, etc. No massive changes to the plot, just refining it. It definitely needed it, considering the original chapter 5 was written in about two days! 2000 or so words of satisfaction added.  
> I also discovered that a few key lines were lost in some transitions from Google Doc to Word Doc to AO3 posting, but it's all good now. I'm way happier with this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings here, although Kurogane is a little rough with Fai.

As they stepped out onto the street, Fai and Sakura looked up in utter surprise as they felt tiny raindrops hit their skin.

They had been called to the apartment to investigate the possibility of a cursed bathtub - the homeowner had asked for a consultation from Fairhaven's lead witch due to the smell and the vague feeling of worry for one’s mother whenever someone bathed. Fai had quickly found a lesser malignant water spirit hiding in the tap (“See, look at the rings on the tub when we apply birch sap extract - it’s not a curse, just a lost little troublemaker!”) and had allowed Sakura to take the lead in the exorcism. It had gone quickly and smoothly, the spirit now battering around the sides of the small glass jar that Sakura held. 

Sakura tipped her head back in utter amazement at the light grey clouds and flecks of water, bouncing up on her toes, a smile widening across her young face.

“You don’t remember any rain?” Fai asked, glancing at her awed expression. 

“Nope!” she replied. “Fai, could you hold the spirit for me?”

“Sure thing.”

She pushed it into his hands and ran out into the street, turning around slowly to marvel at the sight of it all. Fai leaned back against the side of the building to rest, tipping his head back to enjoy the drizzle and watching his apprentice fondly.

It had not rained in months in Fairhaven - a small city of about 70,000 on the west coast - from the center of downtown clustered around the bay, to the surrounding forest full of ancient magical currents, to the mountains that ringed the city. This, Fai thought, was most likely the first time any sort of inclement weather had happened since he had found Sakura. Yes, definitely - Fai couldn’t remember any rain or snow since spring, seven months ago. It had been sunshine all throughout the summer and now, worryingly, into late fall. The winter solstice was in about a month, and the sun still showed as if it was mid July. Fai, along with rest of the Fairhaven magical community (about a quarter of the population), was deeply concerned.

Even though this wouldn't fix the drought, anything was a relief. After they disposed of the spirit in the harbor, he mused, he should give her a quick rundown on the powers of rainwater. It had been in her readings, but he was pretty sure that she learned best with practical demonstrations. He cast a quick stay-dry charm on both of their clothes and called out, “Sakura! Let’s head over to the harbor to pour it out where it belongs; the rain should bring the selkies up to the surface.”

She scampered back over, brilliant smile still on her face. “Selkies? With their skins on? All together?”

“Absolutely! They’re even more graceful in the water; I know some who may come say hello.” Sakura’s pace increased. She took the jar back from him, holding it up to the light.

“I did fine today, right?” she asked, watching the spherical spirit swim around in circles.

“Yes, you did a wonderful job,” Fai told her, and her back straightened with pride. “You seem to have a natural talent for purification, but today’s was the fastest and neatest yet. You chased it right out of its hidey-hole.”

She blushed. “It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be… the gluttony demon last week - or was it the week before? Anyway, he took _forever_ , like, a whole hour. But this one took ten minutes!”

“That just shows your progress. See what paying attention during lessons gets you?” He grinned at her little huff and eye roll, patting her shoulder. “But I concede that getting out there and _doing_ magic really is the best way.”

“Mm-hm,” she said, gazing at the windows of the shops they passed. “And… this is the point of magic, right? To go out and help others who can’t help themselves. Like you did for me. I want to be a witch the same way you are.”

Now it was Fai’s turn to blush, but he felt he hid it well. “We-ell, I don’t think there’s any real _point_ to magic, but between you and me - ” he winked, “ - being kind is the best way. Using magic in benevolent ways helps keep it stable and kind. There are many practitioners who let their selfishness and greed and wildness get the best of them, and their magic corrupts them from the inside out. It… isn’t pretty.” He paused. Unbidden visions of blood and ink ran across his mind. He shook his head, chasing them out. “But I don’t have to tell you this.”

“Because I have you?”

“That’s a very flattering answer, but one day you’ll be on your own. But knowing you, Sakura, I have faith that you’ll never stray from the path of light.”

Sakura grinned up at him. “It’s because you’ve been so kind to _me_.”

Now Fai just couldn’t help it - he blushed. Sakura really was too sweet at times. “Let’s go get rid of this little guy. When we’re back at home I’ll make you and Mokona some hot chocolate - it’s perfect for rain.”

“ _Hot_ chocolate? Wouldn’t it melt?”

“Oh! That’s right, you haven’t had any yet! Never had an occasion to, I suppose. It’s the most amazing thing in the world - you’ll adore it.”

Sakura’s eyes brightened with anticipation for a new experience. Although her lack of memory was largely worrying, Fai loved the moments when she added to her world. It made the nights spent poring over every book he could find for an answer worth it.

As they turned the corner, Fai shivered. His skin felt loose. He looked to where the clouds were darkest - right over the south side of the forest, by the freeway.

He wasn’t a fortune teller by trade, but something was afoot.

-

It was still raining in the late evening, after he and Sakura had eaten dinner and she had curled up on the couch with a book. The ball of fluff that was a sleeping Mokona was perched on a pillow on Fai’s armchair - his feline familiar really seemed to think she was the head of the household sometimes. Her personality as a whole was very un-catlike, but it shone through in little ways.

The little one story house was warm with heating wards and smelled pleasantly of gifted herbs and blossoms, as being the resident witch in Fairhaven came with smaller benefits besides the prestige and goodwill. Being responsible for maintaining the peace and wellbeing of all the witches, practitioners, and other beings scattered throughout the city was stressful at times, dangerous at others, and always huge weight on his shoulders, but his job was important to him and he did his best to sustain the high standards held by the previous resident witch for all those decades. He owed that to her. He owed a lot to Yuuko.

And now, to his work. Fai slipped on his coat and tucked his keys into his bag, their jangling making Sakura look up from her reading.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I got tipped off to a possible Siren or Vila feeding in a downtown club,” he replied, slipping on his shoes. “I’m going to see if there’s anything actually happening.”

Sakura stood. “Can I come?”

“Not tonight, honey. No one under 21 allowed in.” She deflated. “Hey, hey, don’t make that face! Clubs aren’t that great; you’re not missing out on much.”

“But I want to help…”

“It’s just an investigation - see if the reports are true, have a look-see. Not much I need assistance with, really. I’ll be out until one at the latest.” Fai turned to the hall mirror and decided that tonight’s outfit required his hair to be down. He tugged out the hairtie and let it all spill down to his shoulderblades.

Sakura sat back down reluctantly. “Well… alright. But make sure to keep your phone on! I know haven’t been feeling well lately and if you faint you have to come right back home. Promise me.”

Fai smiled, touched by her care for him as always. He crossed the room and kissed the top of her head. “I promise. Don’t wait up.”

“You know I will.”

“I know.”

The rain, though light, was still going on as he walked to the club. Earlier this afternoon when they had arrived home, he had collected and tested some rainwater and found it to be especially pure. As the milk warmed for the hot chocolate, he had put out bowls and jars to collect some for his cellar. He was starting to run low.

Rain had been infrequent. Even though months ago it might have been explained away as a lingering summer (though that was ludicrous now as the calendar flipped to winter), they didn’t get any of the thunderstorms that always occurred once or twice in August. There was just sunshine, every day. Clear skies, every day. High temperatures, every day.

Today had been the first time in a while it hadn’t been around 80 degrees, if not higher. Ponds had been reduced to puddles and streams to trickles; the community garden and the smaller one in his backyard had required a careful watering schedule just to stay alive, what with the water rationing he had mandated. Well, his carrots and coriander should be pleased with today’s weather, Fai thought idly as he rounded the corner to see the small throng of people outside the club’s doors.

Ducking into an alley, he retrieved the ziploc bag of crushed purple calla lilies and catmint  from his jacket pocket, and dabbed it on his cheeks, down the bridge of his nose, and his lips. He took three steady breaths, felt a sparkling sensation like champagne run down his spine, then moved towards the entrance.

Fai tapped the bouncer on the shoulder, and gave his best smile when the man turned. The bouncer looked a bit stunned at the sight of him and stepped aside to let him in with little trouble, which meant the glamour was working as planned.

He moved towards the bar, surveying the main room of the club. The dance floor was packed pretty tightly - that meant the place had drummed up enough buzz to have a good attendance. Whether it was good press or something else, well, that remained to be seen.

Eyes lingered on him as people passed, and he had to politely decline a few offers of drinks. He was nursing a daiquiri (enough to help him blend in but not to lose his head) and examining the crowd for any suspiciously fervent grinding or any beautiful individuals holding court in a corner - someone might be danced to death or lured with sweet singing into a final embrace if Fai couldn’t catch the warning signs in time.

Then he felt someone move up next to him, and he turned to politely decline whatever request they had for him - and found a large, rugged, and (if Fai were to be so brash) _delectable_ man giving him the stink eye.

Well. That wasn’t the usual reaction he got with this glamour. Interesting.

Fai caught eye contact with the man (who was wearing a worn leather jacket and had the jawline some male underwear models only _dreamed_ of) and gave him a coy little smile, which widened when the man didn’t react beyond narrowing his eyes. This was _not_ how things usually went with this charm; was the man just naturally immune to attraction magic? It was rare, but some could shut out the effects. If that was the case, the man could be useful for luring out whatever creature might be hunting in this place without anybody getting hurt - the sweetest fruit seems just out of reach, after all, and this bystander wouldn't be in danger. If Fai could tempt the creature over by using himself as competition, by making her think that her hunting grounds were being encroached...

“Well, aren’t you a tall glass of water?” Fai murmured, leaning toward the man, looking up at him from under his lashes. “I was all cosied up here, but how about you and I go and dance?”

The man squared his shoulders and examined him up and down, but not in the good fun way - less checking out, more could-I-take-this-guy-in-a-fight, yes-I-can. 

Fai internally sighed, shifting away. Fuck, he had picked some straight guy who couldn’t take a misaimed proposition. Time to melt away into the crowd -

The man’s arm shot out and grabbed Fai’s hair, yanking him towards him with a harsh pull. Fai barely restrained a yelp, only letting out a hiss. He glanced around - _shit_. The bartender was occupied with a horde of college kids and in fact, the stranger had picked a moment where it seemed no one was paying them any attention.

“What the fuck’s your problem?” Fai hissed, partly to keep up the act of being a normal clubgoer, partly because _what the fuck is this guy’s problem._

The guy brought out a small iron knife, and Fai’s stomach dropped out. “No no no-” he started saying, moving to reach into his bag for his sache of firepowder - and the man pulled it up to his head -

\- And the man snipped off a small lock of his hair.

He took stock of Fai, lip slightly curled, then tossed it away .

Fai’s limbs ran liquid with relief, and then he pulled himself free of the stranger’s grip, indignation starting to boil inside of him. “What the _fuck_?”

The man looked down at him and said shortly, “You’re not the one I’m looking for.” And then he started to turn away.

Now it was Fai who grabbed the other, this time by the wrist. “Who you’re looking for? What -” And then his brain processed the situation: long hair - enhanced attraction - drinks slid his way - scanning the crowd intensely - tight jeans -

“I’m not the Vila, no, or the Siren,” he said as quietly as he could, looking the man straight in the eye.

There was a flicker of surprise in the man’s eyes. “You know.”

“I’m here looking for it as well, although rather more subtly. I know that sort are known for their vulnerable hair, but that shouldn’t have been your first action - someone else might have called the cops, especially if that had actually been able to kill me.”

The man scoffed. “Like you’re doing anything actual _useful_.” He sniffed the air a bit, then looked disdainfully at Fai. “Catnip. You’re trying to roofie everyone in the room, _witch_.”

At this, Fai’s hackles rose, but he pasted a cordial smile on his face. He decided to ignore the tone with which the man said _witch_. “I’m not accepting any drinks or taking advantage of anybody, I’m only doing my best to lure out whatever might be here with some competition - and since nothing’s been confirmed to hunt here yet -”

“It’s _been_ confirmed,” the stranger cut in. “Three bodies in nearby alleys over the last two weeks. Hearts torn out, lips bloody.”

Fai bristled, but kept smiling. “Thank you for the information, then; the tip I received didn’t mention that. Now, how about I take this side of the club, and you can take the other?”

“Not happening,” the man said flatly. “I will handle this myself, without trickery.”

“If your idea of ‘without trickery’ is grabbing random people by the hair and brandishing a knife -”

“Not ‘random people,’ you were exhibiting all the signs -”

“Is this all because you’re turned on by me and don’t want to own up to it?”  Fai broke out, feeling his smile turn sardonic at the edges. _Moon above_ , but this guy was unbearable. “Poor straight boy feels funny at the wrong sort, so it simply _has_ to be a Vila?”

The stranger’s expression grew even more thunderous. “I do not let my personal feelings cloud my judgment -”

“Is this all an attempt at getting my attention, sweetie? Because I assure you, I -”

And then Fai broke off at that because both of their attentions were caught by a cloying, syrup sweet giggle of, “You’re too tired for dancing, baby? How about we head outside?” ringing melodiously over the din of the club from over by the glow of the side exit sign.

Fai and the stranger looked back at each other. Then darted together towards the exit, Fai grabbing for his sache of firepowder, the man for his knife.

They burst into the alleyway to find a young man - nineteen, maybe, stinking of family money and youthful arrogance - pressed up against the brick wall by a too-beautiful young woman with waist length platinum blonde hair, a tight dress, and rapidly sharpening teeth.

Fai threw out a handful of firepowder and with a twist of his intent caught the being in the face. She shrieked inhumanly, clawing at her cheeks and eyes. The stranger rushed forward and threw her onto the ground, pinning her on her stomach and holding her wrists. She struggled, legs kicking and teeth gnashing, but it was no match for the man’s bulk.

The almost-victim was still standing there, looking stunned and increasingly frightened - most be a nonmagical resident, part of the greater population ignorant to the other side of Fairhaven. Fai uncorked his vial of lethe water as he moved toward him, pressing him against the wall and placing a hand over his eyes. He muttered _drink from the river, let it guide you, return home_  in his learned tongue and tipped a drop from the vial into his mouth, and when he removed his hand, the boy looked dazed and unsure. “What… who…?”

“You need to get a taxi and head home,” Fai murmured in the most dulcet tone he could pour forth. “You drank too much. This scene isn’t for you. You should call your mother. She cares so much.”

The boy nodded slowly, and complied easily when Fai turned him towards the street. After a slight push, he began stumbling towards the streetlight, the near death experience behind him melting from his mind.

When Fai turned back around, he had to immediately leap forward onto the man’s back to stay his arm, which was about to yank out the spitting and yowling being’s hair. “No! You can’t!” he shouted, leaning back to drag the man away with his full weight, whatever that amounted to against a man of this size.

“Why not?” growled the man, still holding onto the struggling creature with his other arm. “She killed three people. Maybe more. I’m not tearing out her damn  _heart_. It would be painless, compared to her victims.”

“I know, I know,” Fai grit out. “But she's not an _animal,_  she's sentient, of the folk. Just. Let me talk to her, I know her tongue. I’m not plotting to kill you or anything - you can keep hold of her. Just don’t tear out her hair, don’t kill her without a word. Wait a moment.”

There was a pause, wherein Fai was certain the man would rip his arm from his grip and go forward with the execution.

And then he relaxed, letting out a harsh sigh. “Fine. Try and talk. I’ll still be keeping her down, though.”

“Fine, that’s just fine,” Fai replied, relinquishing the man’s arm. “That would be wonderful of you.”

He crouched down closer to the being, who had been following their exchange with interest - just as Fai had wanted her to. Hopefully, that would have her more willing to talk to him, as he had saved her life.

 _“Hello, young lady,”_ he said in his learned tongue. _“First of all -”_

 _“Let me go,”_ she spit back.

 _“In due time,”_ he replied calmly. “ _May I inquire as to whether you are a lady of the lake or the sea?”_

She paused, then answered, _“The lake, though it no longer is.”_

“Aha,” Fai said. “Hey, tall dark and grumpy - she’s a Vila, in case you were wondering. _From out of the Forest?"_  he continued, ignoring the man’s bark of indignation at the nickname.

_“Yes. The lake of the ash trees and the warm soil. It has dried in the never-ending sunshine, and I have been chased out.”_

_“There are no more fish to feast upon.”_

She turned her nose up. _“The smallest herrings are what are left in my lake. It would not satisfy me. I am forced to find filling in your nasty dry town, witch.”_

_“The drought has chased you too from your home?”_

_“It has,”_ she confirmed. _“I heard much talk among my folk of going to your town to find food and drink, as the streams have slowed to a trickle, as the plants bear no fruit, as the prey grows leaner every day. I am not the first, nor am I the last. I am simply the unlucky one tonight.”_

Fai bowed his head. _“I am sorry for the forest’s situation, though I know not what is the cause. I, and the rest of the city’s learned people, are doing our best to help. But we only know what we can observe, young lady.”_

She eyed him. _“What are you suggesting, human?”_

 _“A deal. I will call off my companion here, help you go into the mountains to find a new home, let you live and keep dancing. You only must swear upon your hair -"_ \- and here her deadly teeth bared slightly, but Fai forged on - _“- that you will never prey on a human again, and then tell me all that you know about the never-ending sunshine. The talk among your folk, if you will.”_

She considered him carefully. Her eyes were the color of murky green lake water, but deeper than any lake in the human realm. He held her gaze.

After a minute, she nodded. _“As you wish. My life is my hair; I will pledge one for the other.”_ And then she spoke crystal clear words, like small waves lapping at rocks, toppled ancient trees crumbling to dust, rocks stirring into sand; words Fai understood, but could never know.

The oath settled into the air. Fai nodded.

_“Thank you, young lady.”_

_“And now your first end of the deal. Your man here smells delicious, witch, but I would rather him off of me,”_ she purred, rolling her hips. To Fai’s amusement, the stranger seemed to take this as an escape attempt, and pressed his hand down harder against her shoulder blades. Poor thing; he must be frustrated at being unable to understand the words being exchanged right under his nose. It was a struggle not to smirk like the Vila was.

“Hey, big guy, let her go. She’s not going to do anything.”

The man squinted at him. “How do you know?”

Fai barely restrained the urge to roll his eyes. “Didn’t you feel it in the air just a second ago? She made a life oath not to. We’re sparing her life, it’s kiiiind of a big deal in folk dealings.”

“Tch. I know that,” the man said, clambering off of the Vila, who rose gracefully. “Don’t see why you _are_.”

“There are further ways the two of us can help each other. And I do my best to be more restrained in my dealings with the other realms, unlike  _you_.”

“Fuck you. This is why the world needs hunters, not _witches_ who fuck around in one place with potions and spells and shit, negotiating with _dangerous creatures_ , when there are regular people dying out there at the hands of things like _this,_ ” the man snarled, waving a hand at the Vila.

“She was starving.”

“Then she should have found some food.”

“Not that your little squabble isn’t entertaining, but you realize I can speak your tongue,” the Vila cut in, glancing between the two of them. “I still have my pride. Do not talk over my head as if I am not here.”

Fai bowed his head apologetically - the pride of the folk was not something to be trifled with, he had learned. The man scoffed, but luckily the Vila seemed more amused than offended. For once, Fai was thankful for the capriciousness of the folk.

 _“Now, as for what you requested,”_ she continued, switching back to Fai’s learned tongue. _“I have heard those who travel say that the never-ending sunshine is only here. Only this town, this forest. And that it is not an absence of rain - but a surplus of light and heat, brought by something both ancient and new. It chases away the clouds before they can form snow or rain. It stays warm.”_

Fai had known that it was only Fairhaven - he had a beat-up old laptop and he and Sakura kept a spreadsheet of neighboring counties’ weather patterns. Theirs was the odd man out. But the clouds being _unable_ to form…

The Vila went on, voice unnervingly placid and casual. _“The light chases the dark creatures out of their dens, and they find no food to eat. It is not only folk who are being forced into your city to survive. There are things that cannot be reasoned with._

_“And if this does not resolve soon… if the never-ending sunshine stays, and dries up the soil and the mountains and the roots of the trees… this entire place will dry by the winter solstice. Without the rivers, lakes, and snow, the undercurrent to this world, that rises to the surface in our woods, will no longer grace us here. The folk will move on, but there are things that will stay until everything has been stripped to the bone. Until all is consumed. Until your city is dry, empty dust.”_

Fai knew his hands were shaking, but he also couldn’t comprehend having hands.

Again. It was happening again, under _his_ watch. And he knew, he knew, it had nothing to do with him - it had never been his fault, he loved this city - Yuuko had stopped it, Yuuko said - but Yuuko - he didn’t want to see this city go, but what if - what if he  _still_  -

His arm was jostled, and he remembered he had arms on this plane, that were attached to his whirling, sinking mind. “Oi,” a guttural voice grunted, and his vision swam back into focus to see red eyes, red like he’d never seen before on a man, looking into his own. “Did she do something?”

Fai shook his head, trying to force those spiraling thoughts of guilt to the back of his mind (he had been working on that). “No, no. Just. Zoned out!” he chirped, smiling ebulliently up at the man, hoping that would disperse any worry or suspicion. _I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine_ , he projected. _No need to bother with lil ol’ me._

The man still looked annoyingly suspicious, so Fai purred, “Not that I don’t appreciate your concern for me, hot stuff, but it’s alllllll good.” That got him to back off - the man let out a snarl and crossed his arms, directing his eyes away. Fai smiled, feeling much more steady, and turned back to the Vila. She was smirking in that unaffected way most folk had. _“Sorry, young lady - I became lost in my thoughts. If you’d like, I can deliver you to a certain nearby mountain lake. It may be a bit cold, but it neighbors a cave containing a hot spring, and goats and rabbits drink from it. I believe you will find it satisfactory.”_

The Vila smiled at him with a grin full of sharp teeth but without the previous levels of malice (if you knew anything about folk, you knew that there was not much they did that was entirely devoid of malice). _“I will see for myself.”_

Fai smiled back. _“Lovely. Let me secure our transportation.”_ Then he turned to the man. “Sorry to leave so suddenly, but I must transport the lady to her new lodgings.”

“Wh - you can’t just make those decisions! You’re a _witch!_ ” the man blustered.

Fai leveled him a look, similar to the one he gives Mokona when he find her rifling through his wine cabinet. “I can, and I did. I struck a deal and kept peace with the folk, which is my _job_ and more than you were going to do. This has nothing to do with ‘hunter’ or ‘witch.’ It has all to do with _respect_. You’re meant to deal with rogue dark creatures. I deal with _people_. If this is the way you usually go about your business, I don’t think you’ll find a place in Fairhaven. I suggest you move on… sorry, what was your name?”

The man looked somewhere between dumbfounded and infuriated, with a pit stop at humiliated. “... Kurogane,” he ground out from between his teeth.

Fai smiled, and he’ll fully admit that it wasn’t his most believable one ever. Whatever. “Kurogane, yes. _So_ nice to meet you.” Then he dug a slide whistle from the pocket of his bag and blew on it, pulling the slide out as he did. The man - Kurogane - wrinkled his brow at the absurdity of the noise it made, but Fai paid him no heed beyond some amusement.

“What the hell are you doing.”

“Calling my ride.”

“ _Your ride?_ What is it, a clown car?”

Fai gave an over-exaggerated pout, which pulled a giggle from the Vila and increased consternation from Kurogane. ”Heavens no! I’m a _witch,_ you big goofball!”

Comprehension dawned on Kurogane’s face. “... you summon your broom with a plastic slide whistle.”

“Yep!”

“It’s neon blue.”

“It gives it character!”

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” Kurogane burst out, and Fai could only laugh and laugh - honestly, who got so worked up over how a witch did their dealings? Even if he was a dick, Fai couldn’t help but find him so fun to pick at and prod.

As he spied the broom come hurtling over the rooftops, Fai turned to him and gave him a low-lidded smile. "I'll tell you what, Kuroburo -"

 _“That's not my name,”_ Kurogane interrupted. Fai continued as if he hadn't heard him.

“Get a broom floating by yourself, and _then_ we’ll talk.” Then he lifted his arm and caught his broom deftly with one hand. He was being kind of an ass, but so was Kurogane - Fai felt he deserved to let his tongue loose a little after handling that whole situation by himself. He sat upon the broom. “Young lady?” he said in a far more polite tone, holding a hand out to the Vila. She took it, and sat herself down behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Kurogane crossed his arms and harrumphed.

“Young lady, if you’re ready…?”

The Vila squeezed herself tighter around him, propping her chin on his shoulder. “As I can be.”

“Then we’ll be - “

“Wait,” Kurogane said, bringing a hand down on the front of the broom just as they started hovering. “You owe me.”

Fai blinked. “In what way?”

Kurogane looked him straight in the eye. Fai was again struck by that vivid red shade his eyes had - red like anger, red like human blood. It added to the piercing quality they seemed to innately have.

“Names are power. I gave you mine. You give me yours.”

Fai felt a wide grin move across his face. “Ahhh, so you know something about all this besides who to stab.” (Obviously he already knew that, but it was just too fun to see Kurogane’s hackles rise at the insult.) “What a  _smart_  boy.”

“Don’t fuck with me.”

“I’m not! I’m _nooooot,”_ Fai drawled, feeling the Vila shake with laughter behind him, and then he sobered.

Equal exchange - that’s how interpersonal magic worked, deals and barters and favors. Something for everything, eventually, whether it be money, fresh-baked brownies, a handmade charm - a bullet taken. Never wholly sacrifice for someone you don’t know and trust; that's where dark dealings welled up. “My name’s Fai. Fai Flowright. Resident Witch of Fairhaven.”

Kurogane inclined his head, matching Fai’s formality. “Kurogane Amamiya. Hunter.”

Something balled up in Fai’s throat at the noble dip of Kurogane’s head and the respectful tone of his voice. Something quick ran through his guts and left him feeling wobbly on his broom for the first time since he was fifteen. _Get a grip, Flowright,_ he scolded himself. _He’s a hot guy who knows rudimentary manners, not a knight in shining armor. And he's a hunter - he’ll have moved on by tomorrow if you’re lucky._ He felt more than heard the Vila hum interestedly behind him. _Shit. Get this under control. You’re the big witch in town, and he’s some random hunter who almost killed one of the folk. Do your job as you're supposed to._

“Cute name, big boy,” he said, feeling more secure with the joke and the flare of temper in Kurogane’s face. “Have a fun night. See ya if I see ya.”

“Sure as hell hope not,” Kurogane snarled.

Fai started his ascent. “Oh, so you _are_ leaving town? What a good puppy.” He used his height to quickly ruffle Kurogane’s hair and zipped up into the sky before the man could grab his ankle - and it sounded like he sorely wanted to, by the volume of his anger.

“You don’t win just because you’re _too high up to reply!”_ He heard Kurogane shout, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Sorry baby, didn’t quite catch that!” He called in reply, blowing a kiss to the tiny Kurogane shaking his fist up at him from the ground, his feeling of victory aided by the Vila’s raucous giggling behind him. “You’ll have to bark a bit louder!”

-

The flight to the mountain lake was largely silent. The Vila had no interest in making small talk with a human, most likely; just as well, as Fai didn’t want to deal with the nightmare that was successfully navigating a conversation with one of the folk. And he loved flying - it came naturally to him, and he loved the wind through his hair.

They touched down on the shore of the lake, around halfway up this particular mountain. Fai could see the Vila being skeptical about the size, so he pointed out the cave containing the hot springs. The pair of them walked over, and gazed into the steam rising into the night.

The Vila turned to face him. _“You have done well, one of herbs and stones. Stars be with you.”_

Fai recognized the formal title for what it was, and did not bow his head. Mutual respect from a being that, under an hour ago, had been ready to rip his throat out... being the resident witch was terrifying at times, but Rowan and Elder, he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

_“Stars be with you too, Lady of the Lake.”_

She pressed a kiss to his cheek then stepped into the lake, stripping off her party dress, and with it all mortal trappings. By the time the water reached her waist, she was unmistakable for what she was: ancient, deadly, and something entirely apart from himself.

 _“One last thing, witch…”_ the Vila said, looking over her shoulder just before her head was submerged.

_“Yes?”_

“ _You know, I would not be able to lure your man no matter what I tried.”_

 _Sun forbid the thought of him being “my” man,_ Fai thought, but responded politely all the same. _“I noticed; he seems to be immune to attraction magics.”_

_“Oh, that too. But my kind would have no effect on him.”_

_“Your kind?”_

_“You know.”_ She raised an eyebrow. _“Ladies of lakes. Ladies of the sea. **Ladies** of the land and **ladies** of the sky. **You** would have better fortune with his path.”_

Ah. So that’s what she meant. Fai did his best not to show any reaction to the insinuation - nice arms and chiseled jaw aside, headfirst brashness and disrespect for magical customs just wasn’t Fai’s type. _“No offense meant to you, young lady,”_ Fai replied, _“But that is the least of my concerns at present.”_

The Vila only hummed at that, smirk still on her inhumanly beautiful face. _“Of course, witch.”_

Right before she ducked beneath the surface of the lake, she commented, _“The rain today was very nice. I doubt this area will get something like that again soon.”_

And then she was gone, leaving only a ripple in the water behind. Fai sighed, and rubbed at his temple, wanting dearly to get back to his warm house, where his apprentice would be half asleep on the couch and his familiar would have gone through the freezer to eat up _his_ favorite ice cream - things he knew and loved, rather than “kill first, ask questions later” hunters and the viciously old minds of the folk.

The things he did for his city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Lore notes!](http://robinauts.dreamwidth.org/836.html)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings in this chapter.

The morning after the Vila fiasco began with a cat bouncing on Fai’s face singing, “Wake up, wake up, everybody wake up!” repeatedly and loudly. Directly in his ears. At - he glanced at his clock - seven in the morning.

Fai dearly loved his familiar, but it was moments like this that made him wish there was a lock for his door that she couldn’t pick. Or a child gate too tall for her to jump. 

He grabbed Mokona by her nape and held her above her head, rubbing at his eyes. She giggled and wriggled, her tail swinging. “C’mon, c’mon! Busy day ahead! Gotta make us breakfast!”

Fai forced a smile on, brain still mostly mush. “Mm, will do. Let me get ready, okay?”

Mokona chirruped, and he released her to hop across the hall to wake Sakura. He sat there for another moment just absorbing being awake, and then threw his duvet off to head out into the kitchen. He figure he'd get properly dressed after breakfast - he had promised the household pancakes this morning, and Mokona had a tendency to get flour everywhere. Also, he was lazy.

He was fully awake and mixing the wet and dry ingredients when Sakura wandered out of her room looking still asleep, Mokona hanging around her shoulders like a cheerful white scarf. “G’morning, Fai,” she yawned, plopping down at the kitchen table and burying her face in her arms.

“Good morning, little flower. You feel up to helping me make breakfast?”

“Yeah…” she murmured, snuggling deeper into her makeshift pillow. “In a minute…”

He couldn’t help but chuckle. “All right. Mokona, would you like to put the chocolate chips in the pancakes?”

“ _Would_ I?” Mokona yowled, streaking over the counter and hopping up next to the stovetop. “I’m gonna make ‘em have _smiley faces_. Ooh, and _stars_! And Sakura should have a flower, or a bird!”

“Just make sure we can still taste the pancakes after you’re done,” Fai said, pouring batter onto the griddle. The scent of baking wafted up into the air and Fai felt so peaceful, the dregs of sleep slipping away as he gently scolded Mokona for dumping what seemed to be a hundred chips onto one pancake.

He heard a giggle behind him, and looked over his shoulder to see Sakura awake. “Fai, your bedhead…!” she laughed, stretching her arms out over the tabletop.

Fai glanced at the hall mirror - it was sticking up everywhere, huh. He ran a hand over his hair and, when that didn’t do very much, shrugged. “I’ll fix it when I get ready to go. Do you want raspberries on your pancakes?”

She brightened. “Definitely! Can I get them ready?”

“They’re in the fridge. Breakfast will be served in under five minutes.”

Sakura rushed over and pulled out a mixing bowl. The raspberries had been bought a few days ago from their friend Kohaku, who owned a greenhouse out in the northern countryside and supplied them with the herbs that couldn’t be grown in a little townhouse backyard. Apparently the raspberry crop had been small as the warmth didn’t agree with them, but for one of their best customers they could afford a discount. “I’m certain there’s something you’ve done for me that I haven’t repaid!” Kohaku had gushed, pushing the carton into his hands.

Soon enough they all sat down to a very sweet breakfast. Sakura finished first and rushed to do her morning chores - replenish the bird feeders, salt line the windows, perform the blessing spells on the garden. As she did, Mokona slinked over to a sunny spot where she probably intended to sleep all day - for a familiar, Mokona didn't really do much to _actually_ assist him. Well, she had been Yuuko's before her passing, and Yuuko had never really  _needed_ a powerful familiar.

Shaking his head at his cat's overall uselessness, Fai went to recharge the community Fount in the back room - his regular task that was the original job of resident witches. He knelt before it and poured the residual magic from his dreams into the chunk of amethyst that shined by the window, entering into a state of half-meditation, letting his magic flow outwards. He was good at this.

After, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, just breathing. He wasn’t certain if his legs would hold him steady just yet. This didn’t used to be so strenuous...

“Fai, I’m all done! - oh.”

His eyes flew open and there was Sakura, poking her head through the door, face falling as she took in his state. He started to stand, hoping his ascent looked more graceful than it felt. “Sorry, sparrow, I was just thinking.”

She moved toward him. “... If you say so,” she murmured, touching his forearm lightly. “Please make sure to take some labradorite with you today.”

“Of course,” he agreed. A crystal for spiritual protection - Sakura was right, that would help with magical exhaustion. She had been studying well. “Did the birds have anything interesting to say?”

“They said today would be warm - not as hot as a few days ago, but the rain hasn’t lasted. So, uh, dress for that!” she said. It seemed like she was trying to pour her energy into him, and it was sweet.

“I’ll make sure to,” he replied, bracing his hand on the wall. “If you’ve gotten everything done - and so quickly! - you should get ready as well.”

She paused for a few seconds, checking him over to make sure he wouldn’t keel over as soon as he left her sight (it was only the _once_ ); seemingly satisfied, she darted out, feet tap-tap-tapping on the hardwood floor. He made his way to his own room, albeit more slowly.

It took effort nowadays to be as energetic as Sakura, Fai reflected as he shed his pajamas. He should take a day off soon - but not today, because he has so many appointments, or tomorrow, or…

He sighed. Being resident witch really was taking a toll on him, it seemed. _This heat probably has something to do with it as well,_ he thought as he pulled his binder on. He really needed to drink more water...

As soon as he left his room, Sakura, now dressed in a light blouse and shorts, rushed up to him and blurted out,  “FaiyoulooknicecanIdoyourhair?”

“Is my hair still all messed up?” he asked. He thought brushing it had been enough, but apparently not...

“No, no, it looks fine!” she said. “But, um, I learned a new hairstyle? And, and we’re seeing Tomoyo today, right? And she’ll probably want to fuss with it if it’s just in a ponytail, and you know how Tomoyo is, she’s really elaborate and fancy - not that that isn’t good, Tomoyo is perfect the way she is! - but we have things to do after we see her, right, and maybe you don’t want to spend all that time doing that…?” She petered off, shuffling her feet.

Sakura was as thoughtful as always, if not always subtle.

“Go right ahead, dear,” he assented, sitting down at the kitchen table as she undoubtedly wanted him to. “There’s no hurry.”

She smiled with relief and moved behind him. As her hands combed gently through his hair, Fai couldn’t help but think back to April.

It had been nearly five months after Yuuko had passed on and four after Watanuki had left on his journey, and things were mostly okay. Fai had almost grown accustomed to his new duties as the most powerful witch in Fairhaven. The responsibilities that came with it were weighing less heavily on his shoulders than they had when he had first inherited the position of resident witch from his teacher and guardian, and nearly everyone of note had pledged to honor his rightful title. He still felt like he was stumbling around wearing only one shoe at times, but that was to be expected. He had been doing the best he could. Still alive. Still breathing. He had bought a house. The city still stood around him.

It had been a sunny April morning, and he had been going to visit his plot at the community garden, expecting some tomatoes and sage, and instead found a young girl passed out in his flower beds. His first thought was panic - _oh sun and stars, she was defenseless and unconscious, what if something had happened to her_ \- and then he had dropped his tools and rushed over to her side, giving her cursory a look-over - _no blood, no visible injuries, but an astounding personal aura_ \- and shaking her shoulder. She had been warm in the sun. “Miss,” he had said. “Miss, you have to wake up.”

Her eyes had blinked open, and she had looked dazedly up at him. “Where…”

“You’re at the community garden on Railroad Avenue and 17th Street,” he had told her, fixing on his most reassuring smile. “Can you tell me if you're hurt anywhere? Has anything happened?”

She had blinked, seeming to slowly take stock of herself. “No… I’m fine.”

“That’s wonderful to hear. Can you tell me your name? How old you are?”

“... Sakura. I’m sixteen.”

“What a pretty name.” He distinctly remembered her brightening a little at the compliment. “Do you remember how you came to sleep here?”

“... no.”

“Alright, is there anyone I can call to come pick you up?”

“... I don’t know.”

Here, Fai’s worry for her had grown to new heights. “Miss, what do you remember?”

“... nothing.”

He had helped her up and had taken her to sit on his front porch, forgetting his gardening for the time being. He had brought her homemade lemonade and a curious talking cat, and her personality seemed to awaken the more they spoke. She had no personal memories, but her knowledge - literacy, manners, abstract concepts - seemed intact. It seemed like she had popped out of thin air as a fully formed teenage girl, ready to discover the world as herself.

And in the weeks that followed, she slept on Fai’s couch and ingrained herself in his daily routine; there was no sign of anyone looking for her (from both the community and every psychic Fai could get ahold of). Instead, she had showed signs of active magical power on the level of or exceeding some hedgewitches Fai knew, as well as interest in his job and rituals. They went out and bought her a modest wardrobe, toiletries, and any food she had found to her liking.

And after a month, he let her move into his spare room (he knew it had been empty for some reason) and, after a few late night worry sessions -

_(What if he was just like Ashura - a powerful magic user taking in a lost child with nowhere else to go? What if, even though he had no ill intentions, he ruined her in the same way - or worse?)_

\- Fai had formally invited her to be his apprentice. She had accepted eagerly, and there they were.

“There! All done!” Sakura chirped, breaking through his recollection. “What do you think?”

Fai stood to examine himself in the hall mirror and nearly gasped when he saw the intricate braiding accented with so many little flowers. “Oh, goodness gracious, this is _incredible!”_ He swept his giggling apprentice up in a hug that lifted her off of the ground. “I can’t _believe_ human hands have constructed such _masterwork!”_

“Faiiii,” she teased, bright red. He deposited her on the ground and ran up to the mirror to get a better look. “It’s not _that_ good.”

“It looks _lovely_ , Sakura,” he praised, turning this way and that to see how the flowers were woven into each plait. Though he was being a bit overdramatic to get a laugh out of her, it really was stupendous - both the braiding and the sentiment behind it. He looked her in the eye, and told her, as warmly as he could, “Thank you.”

The smile that stretched across her face could have made stone melt. “Thank _you_ for letting me,” she replied, and Fai was struck (as he so often was) at how Sakura seemed wise beyond her youth - at how she seemed to know him so well despite having been under his care for less than a year.

Fai kissed the top of her forehead and grabbed his traditional wide-brimmed pointed hat - one of his favorites, a lovely azure blue with a cream sash around the center - from the hatstand. Sakura took a baseball cap and looked up at him. “Did you remember the labradorite, Fai?”

Pulling it from his bag, he brandished it at her exaggeratedly. “I sure did! Did _you_ remember your charging crystal for the dwarves this afternoon?”

She patted through her satchel. And then through her shorts pockets. And then through her shirt pocket. And then she scampered back to her room.

-

By noon they arrived at Tomoyo’s shop, the bus that brought them wheezing and chugging away in the dry air. They deposited most of their shopping bags (and Fai’s hat) behind the front desk and went directly to the back - which seemed to miff a few of the waiting customers. The door to the formal room was closed, so they waited around in the air conditioning for a few moments until it opened and a little old woman with bright yellow eyes toddled out. Sakura bowed at the waist and Fai inclined his head as she passed; in turn, she curtsied deeply to him, and bowed her head to Sakura. After she exited, Fai opened the door and found Tomoyo sitting in her fancy fortunetelling chair, shuffling her cards, coy smile in place.

“Still not used to all those genuflections, Fai?” she inquired.

“Ahhh, Tomoyo, I’m much better at inspiring awe and respect than I used to be! You should see me on jobs and all the community meetings and stuff!" he whined, flopping down in an armchair. “It's just that I knew that lady even _before_ I was Yuuko’s apprentice! I used to bow to _her!_ It’s _weird!”_

“You think that’s weird? You should try customers asking for _a good word put in with Mr. Flowright,_ and all I can think of is that one time a few years ago when Kimihiro and you opened that hexed cigar box from Yuuko’s storehouse -"

“You will _never let that go_ , will you.”

“Never. Also, I forgot to mention - I _love_ this hairstyle on you! All the little flowers! Did you do it, Sakura?” She asked, turning all her attention to her friend.

Sakura grinned back proudly. Fai was pretty sure he saw Tomoyo swoon a little. “Yup! I saw a video online the other day and was dying to try it. How did you know?”

“Our Fai here took a year to learn how to make a decent french braid. Anything new _he_ tries looks terrible until the third attempt.”

Both of them giggled and Fai groaned in good fun, _“Girls_ , I am _right here!”_

Sakura patted his arm, though she was still laughing at him. “I can only braid in the first place because _you_ taught me.”

Tomoyo smiled fondly at them, then stood and moved to the office door. Fai was struck by the layers of formal robes she wore to do her job. Tomoyo had a different sort of profession than him, but a girl seven years his junior looking so official and mysterious made his outfit feel... unprofessional. Yuuko had swanned around town in elaborate fashions, which wasn’t really his style; he much preferred his light button-up and breezy skirt. He would have melted in today’s 90° weather if he was wearing her kimono, but still...

“Are any of you here by appointment?” Tomoyo asked the people in the lobby, all of whom shook their heads. “Lunch break for a business meeting! Please come back after 1:45.” And with that, she drew the door closed.

“Aren’t you worried you’ll lose some customers?” Sakura said, biting at her lip. “We don’t want to impose.”

Tomoyo shrugged as she sat back down. “If they weren’t here by appointment, they probably just saw the sign and thought it would be fun. I doubt they would truly believe me. Right, Fai?”

“Righto,” he replied. “Barely an aura on any of them, and not one seemed to recognize the resident witch. They don't capital-k _Know.”_

“And anyway, I much prefer talking with you than them,” Tomoyo commented, shuffling her Tarot deck and smiling sweetly at Sakura.

“And now to business,” Fai said, reaching down into the bag he had brought with him. “I’ve prepared the sigils you requested, and here’s the newest quart of sleeping draught. Would you like me to recharge your wards?”

Tomoyo took the proffered items. “If it wouldn’t tax you too much, that would be lovely.”

He stifled a bit of annoyance - of course Sakura would confide to her friend about her worries, that's what friends were for. Tomoyo was just being polite.

Fai leaned forward and crossed his palms. He closed his eyes. Breathed deeply twice.

Sealed away his physical mind. Spread out his aura throughout the building. Made contact with each entrance and exit, window and door. Instilled protection. Instilled peace. Instilled light.

Made his way back to his body. Settled into his arms, his legs, his head. Felt his hands touching each other. Felt his elbows touching the table. Felt his legs against the chair. Felt the air against his cheeks.

Fai opened his eyes.

The girls were still sitting there - Sakura watching him carefully, Tomoyo smiling serenely, likely enjoying the spread of cool protective magic across her residence.

“How do you feel? Are you alright?” Sakura asked, grabbing his nalgene and pushing it into his arms.

“Perfectly fine!” Fai replied. “And thank you, Sakura, but the water isn’t necessary.”

“You should drink anyway,” Tomoyo said. “You don’t want to be dehydrated, what with the heat.”

“... true,” Fai yielded to their combined concern, taking the water bottle. “Speaking of…”

Tomoyo’s brow furrowed. “Yes. That.”

Most of Fairhaven’s magical community had been worrying about the drought for months now, and with late fall showing no signs of cooling down it was rising to a fever pitch. Every meeting of community leaders was dominated by the subject, everyone arriving with new reports of ill effects and leaving with no new leads. It seemed that everywhere Fai went he got questioned on the subject - and the only answers he could provide were “don’t worry, we’re working on it, please conserve water.”

“I hate to turn our transaction from a personal dealing to something so grave,” he told her, “But it’s absolutely necessary.”

Tomoyo sighed. “You always seem to find the questions I can’t answer, Fai.”

“What - the drought too?” Fai sat back, stunned.

Tomoyo’s reputation as the premier diviner in Fairhaven was entirely deserved - besides possibly Yuuko, Fai had never encountered another individual with such reach into fate. People, structures, animals, even _abstract concepts_ \- the only things that were beyond her knowledge, it seemed, were rare and unnatural “concealed paths.” No person carried them innately; it was always due to prior intense magical interference. 

Sakura was something like that - Tomoyo could only read maybe a day or two in advance if she was lucky, and never anything weighty. They theorized that it stemmed from whatever covered her memories - just like Sakura couldn’t remember anything from the long term, Tomoyo could only delve into the immediate future. Her path just ended abruptly, as if a wall stood in any seer’s way. While that usually signified imminent death, it had been like that for all the time they had known her and she hadn’t died yet.

Fai was a more traditional case. Ever since he was thirteen, when Ashura had… done what he did, his path had been a murky mess. Yuuko had first described it, voice heavy with sadness and horror, as a spill of ink (and innocent blood) on a page - as if someone had attempted to write over his fate, to seize and instill in him something huge and _powerful_ , but it had fallen apart in the middle when Yuuko had put a stop to it. As if the inkwell had been overturned, and obscured both the new and the old.

On his darkest nights, Fai had tried to find out what exactly was meant to be written, what rituals required such sacrifices like _what had happened._  He pulled moldy books from the depths of Yuuko’s storehouse - looking for that particular winged pattern that was burned into his memory - and replaced them after he felt too sick to continue.

The author was gone, but the stain remained.

It made proper transactions with Tomoyo rather hard. Usually, she would repay others with an amount of information equal to the service they did for her, but that wasn’t possible with Fai and Sakura. So he asked after subjects he was intrigued with - questions about the future of his house, how his plants would grow, what district of Fairhaven should be expecting trouble next. Paths that were easier for Tomoyo to see, ones that extended and were unmarred.

He had been intending to ask about the state of the drought today, but apparently that wasn’t possible either.

“You can’t read on the drought?” Sakura asked, leaning across the table. “Is anything wrong? Are you okay?”

Tomoyo shook her head. “I’m fine. Let me show you.”

She went to one of her shelves and pulled out a large crystal ball, then set it on the main table. She placed her hands on its surface, relaxed her shoulders, furrowed her brow -

Light _exploded_ from the ball, illuminating the room to near-blinding and pulling a yelp from Sakura. It was dowsed almost immediately, but Fai still had after-images in his vision. His skin felt like he had been out in the sun for a few hours rather than just a second of exposure. It was too much to handle as an observer - Fai couldn't fathom what it would do to the inner eye.

Tomoyo stood steady but looked shaken. “It’s done that every time I’ve looked in that direction, but never so brightly as just now… I can’t See anything about the never-ending sunshine. It blinds my eyes whenever I try.”

“Even when you use other methods?” Sakura asked.

“Yes.” The crystal ball was set back in its place. “Instead of ink or a wall like you two - it’s light. Like I’m looking into the depths of the sun.”

Fai’s stomach turned over. “Like something’s chasing you out,” he murmured. “Chasing out seers, chasing out the clouds - and it’s chasing out the inhabitants of the forest as well. The lakes are drying up. I’ve heard a few people talking about hoop snakes making nests in parks on the forest side, and the calls of a strix at night… and just last night I saw one of the lower courts _downtown_.”

“Folk? Downtown?” Tomoyo said, hand held daintily up to her chin, brain working through the implications.

“Yes, resorting to her _traditional_ methods of feeding. Apparently the folk think that everything will be dry by the winter solstice.” Fai pressed his palms to his forehead. “And then they’ll leave. And all the things that kept their home in the forest will come into Fairhaven for feeding.”

“The solstice is in a month,” Sakura said. “Do you think that’s enough time?”

 _No,_ Fai thought, but he couldn’t say that. Not to Sakura’s dear worried face, always looking to him as if he would fix everything in the world. It was nice to pretend that his ability to cursebreak and construct charms and solve minor community disputes could qualify him for something of this magnitude.

Fai wished, as he seemed to every day, that Yuuko was still alive.

Instead, he pasted on a smile and turned to her. “Certainly, sweetheart,” he told her. “We’ll figure something out.”

Sakura placed her hand on his upper arm. “I’m sure everything will turn out alright,” she said solemnly. Fai felt a small burst of magic pass from her to him, warm and reassuring.

“I agree,” Tomoyo commented. “I have faith in us and in you. Though I must ask… from whom did you hear the winter solstice deadline?”

“The one who was in downtown,” Fai replied. “A vila.”

Tomoyo’s eyebrows raised. “A vila?”

“Yes, a vila,” Fai said. “And there was also the most _stereotypical_ hunter I’ve ever _seen_ in my life trying to track her down. He would have just scalped her without any discussion if I hadn’t been there.” He slumped back in his chair, blowing a piece of hair out of his eyes and crossing his arms. The irritation from last night was rising anew. “What an absolutely _asinine_ way to go about things in the magical community - I have no idea _how_ he’s still alive.”

Then Fai noticed Tomoyo’s eyes had lit up like someone had told her a great joke, and she was _smiling_ , and he was about to ask what was so funny when he heard a cough from the door.

He turned, and beside the utter _embarrassment_ curdling his stomach, he absently thought that honestly? Tomoyo was right. This is a _spectacular_ joke.

There stood Kurogane, leaning against the doorframe and looking entirely unimpressed.

“Hi,” Fai said.

“Hi,” Kurogane said.

_Sun and stars, kill me now._

“We were wondering if you wanted to get some lunch - oh!” said another someone, and in popped a young man with a mop of brown hair and a long white scar across his nose. “I’m sorry, Tomoyo, I didn’t know you had guests. We can just go by ourselves.”

“They look pretty done here,” Kurogane drawled, standing up straight. “Right?”

“Right,” Tomoyo said, getting up from her seat and smiling at Fai - in apology or in mischief, Fai wasn’t sure. “Have you two eaten yet?”

“We haven’t,” Sakura replied. Thank goodness she did; Fai was still scrambling to recover from his mortifying misstep. “But we wouldn’t want to intrude - “

“You wouldn’t be intruding,” Tomoyo said. “I think we’ll all get along very well. Right, Kurogane?”

“Why is _he_ here,” Kurogane grunted.

“I’m here on business, and because Tomoyo is my friend,” Fai replied saccharinely, sitting up straighter. “I didn’t realize you knew her - she’s never mentioned you before at _all.”_

“This is my cousin, Kurogane Amamiya, and his apprentice, Syaoran Li - they’re hunters. I invited them to stop by our fair city due to the influx of dark creatures; they arrived in town a few days ago and have been staying with me,” Tomoyo said smoothly, as if unaware of the tension that was currently drowning the room. Or maybe that was just him. “And this is Fai Flowright, resident witch of Fairhaven, and his apprentice, Sakura. I've been meaning to introduce you two within the next few days, since Fai is such an important figure in town; I'm sure you two will get along very well.”

Neither Fai nor Kurogane made any indication that these introductions had already been made. Maybe they could pretend last night had never happened…?

The glare Kurogane was training on him said otherwise. _Oh beans._

Syaoran hastily bowed. “Oh - um, I’m honored to make your acquaintance, Mr. Flowright,” he recited formally. “Stars be with you, and… the soil also.”

It pleased a petty little part of him that Kurogane seemed peeved at his apprentice’s immediate deferment. Then Kurogane snorted, and Fai got _annoyed_. “You’re not a witch. Don’t act like one,” the man said, still glaring at Fai. Color crept into Syaoran’s cheeks and he adjusted his posture to look more like his teacher's.

“Sun and streams to you as well,” Fai replied in turn, ignoring the other man’s derision and giving the boy an encouraging smile. Formal greetings weren’t his style, but anything to bug this guy. “And thank you for the invite, Tomoyo, but - “

“Nonsense,” Tomoyo said. “Let me buy you lunch to help pay for the work you’ve done for me.”

 _Please, not lunch with this huge dude he just insulted..._ “There’s really no need - “

“Now, Fai,” Tomoyo cut him off, hanging up the outer formal robes to reveal a lighter, more casual outfit and gathering her things together. “Unsettled debts do not become a witch.”

“That’s true, but…” He trailed off at the chiding look Sakura gave him from his elbow. “Alright, alright. You win. Sakura and I have our next appointment at 2:30, however.”

“Wonderful!” Tomoyo said, leading them out to the front. “You can leave your things here; I’ll lock the door.”

Fai deposited his hat back on his head as they headed out of the air conditioning, distantly listening to the teenagers chattering, eyes catching on Kurogane as he held the door open for everyone. Kurogane saw him looking and narrowed his eyes, giving him a terse nod, then stomping up ahead of the group.

Fai had the sneaking suspicion that everything had gone exactly as Tomoyo had planned.

-

They settled on lunch at a little cafe a few blocks south. Sakura had suggested it, and Tomoyo and Syaoran immediately chimed in their support. It was obvious how Syaoran’s gaze trailed after Sakura like a moth to a flame - another one caught in her charms.

Everyone ordered and sat down at a table near the window, the kids sitting all the same side and keeping up a lively conversation. Sakura and Tomoyo had been good friends ever since they met, and it was fortunate that Syaoran seemed to fit in naturally.

Although the rapid-fire teenage talking left Fai to speak only with Kurogane... and he had tried! Really. He had said, “So how’s your day going?” And then Kurogane had grunted, without even looking at him, “It _was_ fine.” And that had been that. Fai wasn’t going to bother trying to prop up a conversation with a guy who obviously didn’t want anything to do with him.

So he sipped at his water and made the appropriate reactions to Tomoyo’s story about a customer she’d read the day before, all while Kurogane sat stonily silent next to him.

If he totally ignored the six foot something, built like a brick shithouse, most-likely-holding-three-knives-somewhere-on-his-person _hunter_ sitting right next to him, it was fine! Pleasant, even.

“... and then, a week later, he walked right back in my shop doors,” Tomoyo was saying, waving a dainty little hand around.

“Oh _no_ ,” Sakura said, leaning toward her.

“What did he do?” Syaoran gasped.

“He just said, ‘I have never seen that many frogs in _my life_.’” Sakura and Syaoran broke into giggles, and though Fai hadn’t really been following the story, he chuckled too. “And then he left! I haven’t seen him since.”

“That’s _ridiculous_ ,” Syaoran said. “I kind of wish that hunting was a bit more stationary, if only because I’d see how some stories play out. We only stay in one place for a few weeks at most.”

“Do you like hunting?” Sakura said, and when she turned to him, he went a lovely shade of vermillion.

“Yeah! It’s very interesting, and I like helping people who can’t defend themselves.” A proud smile softened his features and Fai couldn’t help but be charmed. “Even if it is dangerous and we move around all the time - if I know about this kind of stuff, it’s sort of my duty, right? A scratch or two doesn’t matter in the long run.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, is that how you got that scar?” Sakura asked. Though it was an innocent question, it was immediately obvious how Syaoran stiffened. The whole table fell silent.

“You don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want to, kid.”

Kurogane’s voice was gruff but oddly soft, and entirely unexpected to Fai - he had gotten so used to thinking of Kurogane as a cold, callous asshole that he had ignored how much Syaoran seemed to look up to him. The boy shot a grateful look at his mentor and cleared his throat. “No, it’s fine. They’re friends of Tomoyo, and since you trust her, I do too.”

Kurogane _tch_ -ed at that, but leaned back and nodded to Syaoran.

“I’m just gonna be blunt,” Syaoran began, breathing deeply. “Around three years ago, my parents were bitten by feral werewolves. ” Sakura gasped, and Fai barely restrained his horror to a furrowed brow. Kurogane was eying the whole table, as if he would jump up and strangle anyone who said a word. “We lived in a pretty remote place, and they went feral too. Kurogane… took care of them, when he got there. But, um. Not before they attacked me.”

He gestured to the scar across his face, then lifted the hem of his shirt up to reveal jagged rows of bite scars on his side. Fai couldn’t help but wince.

“Luckily I was able to stay sane by barricading myself in my room and focusing on reading every book I had, but if Kurogane hadn’t, uh, done his job by the time he did, my parents would have broken through the door and, well... I probably wouldn’t be walking around on _two_ legs right now.” The joke fell a bit flat - Tomoyo had her head bowed, Sakura was looking utterly stricken, and Fai couldn’t come up with anything appropriate to say. Syaoran shifted a bit in his seat, seeming to not know what to do with the awkward silence.

“Tell them about your blog thing,” Kurogane rumbled. Fai glanced over to him and saw him looking steadily at his apprentice. Syaoran nodded and brightened, sitting up straighter.

“A while back I was thinking about it and just - wouldn’t it be really helpful if there was an online database of accurate information about magical animals available for people? All about their behaviors and how to defend yourself against them.” Syaoran visibly lit up as he went on, getting into his passion. “It would be simply written and up to date, and you could just look at it on your phone or computer instead of sifting through a bunch of books. Anyone could use it as a resource, and even if they don’t think it’s real, they’d have _some_ idea of what to do if they’re ever faced with that kind of stuff. Like if they should go for the silver or the stake. I'm not a total expert yet, and I know it’s kind of stupid -”

“No, no!” Sakura broke in. “It’s a _great_ idea! A blog that’s easy to read and navigate? I would love to have that to study from! And it’s for such a wonderful reason as well.”

Fai couldn’t help but smile as Syaoran nearly crumbled under her praise. “I have a fairly decent magical library of my own,” he commented, and nearly laughed out loud when Syaoran’s attention swiveled to him immediately. “You can stop by sometime and see if there’s anything of use to you.”

Syaoran’s face split into a huge grin. “You’d let me? _Really?_ That’s so kind of you, Mr. Flowright, thank you so much!”

“No way.”

Syaoran’s face fell at Kurogane’s harsh refusal. Fai couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Is there a problem, big guy?”

“I’m not letting him into a witch’s house.” Kurogane crossed his arms

Okay, Fai had had _enough_. He was on the verge of letting himself snap at Kurogane when the server arrived with their food; smiling and thanking her gave him time to cool down a little. _Don’t let him see how he gets to you_ , he chided himself. _Not in front of the kids._

And by the time they had been left alone to break their bread, someone more effective was laying into Kurogane in his stead.

“Cousin, you can’t say such rude things to my friend,” Tomoyo was saying in a light tone that barely matched the cold look she was giving him. “This isn’t your city, and you met him directly after he finished warding my shop. He has only been benevolent and kind the entire time I’ve known him - which is a very long time - and you mustn’t be so quick to make harsh judgments.” Her eyes flicked over to him at this, and Fai took the admonishment for what it was.

So did Kurogane, apparently. He exhaled, then picked up his fork. “... my bad. I’ve had some bad experiences with witches fucking with things they shouldn’t,” he muttered, stabbing into his lunch in a petulant way that amused Fai more than his reluctant apology annoyed him.

“I see,” Fai replied, stretching out in the seat. “So have I, but witches aren’t beasts like chimeras or hellhounds that just eat people willy-nilly. We have whatever morals we do, since we’re _thinking beings_ , just like _you_.” He could tell that Kurogane was remembering last night’s run-in with the Vila, and he sobered his tone a bit more. “And what’s more, I’m the resident witch of Fairhaven, an apprentice of Yuuko Ichihara before her passing last year. I’m not just going around hexing random men who scorn me - I’m the head of the magical community here. I don't just wander around the country shooting things, _Mister_ Amamiya.”

Kurogane bristled, his hackles rising again. “You're still fooling around with plants and rocks in one place, not helping as many people as you actually  _could_. And if you're so important and powerful, why are you letting your city get overrun with dark creatures?” Fai couldn't restrain his flinch at that last bit - stars above, he was doing his best, but his failure to fix things still weighed too heavily to be able to brush a remark like that off.

“Fai is the nicest person I know!” Sakura broke in, standing up as her temper flared. “He took me in when I had nothing, no memories and no home, and has been nothing but courteous to me! You need to lay off, you big _creep!”_

There was a pause as Kurogane returned Sakura’s fiery gaze, and Fai held his breath. If that damned hunter so much as lifted a _finger_ against her...

“... alright, alright, I get it,” Kurogane grumbled, looking askance and stabbing his fork into his meal. “Kid, you can go read some damn books if that's what you want. Eat your lunch.”

Fai couldn’t help but laugh at this boulder of a man backing down at the scolding of such a tiny girl - Kurogane was just _too funny_.  For a moment he was worried that would start everything back up again, but Tomoyo joined in and Kurogane just rolled his eyes and kept shoveling food into his mouth. The tension in the air dissipated.

The rest of the meal was eaten in relative peace with light conversation, and Kurogane even commented once or twice. It was nice, although Kurogane wouldn’t stop _staring_ at Fai. How big of a stick did that guy have lodged inside of his ass? Fai had thought the message had gotten through to him.

Tomoyo paid the bill when the time came, and they all walked back to her shop. “Oh, Fai!” Tomoyo said as Fai gathered their bags and Sakura and Syaoran put each other into their phone contacts. “I forgot to mention how much I like your outfit today.”

“Thank you!” Fai replied, smoothing down the fabric of the skirt. “I thought it was the perfect weather for this - Sakura gave it to me for the autumn equinox.”

“It’s very fashionable - don’t you agree, Kurogane?”

Kurogane snorted from over where he was fussing with the waiting room water cooler. “Don’t see how that’s relevant to me.”

“I’m just trying to _include_ you,” Tomoyo sighed, turning back to Fai. “He's hopeless, isn't he. Regardless - it was nice seeing you two today. Contact me if you find anything else about the drought - or if you have anything you’d like some strapping young hunters to take care of.”

“Sure thing!” Fai lied through his teeth. _No way am I willingly working with that trigger-happy asshole._ “Oh, and about the rest of the debt, since I don’t think lunch really covered it - I’d be fully willing to let it go, but you know how it is. Is there some other time we could discuss that…?”

“Oh, I don’t think it will be necessary.” Tomoyo had a glint in her eye that was reminiscent of Watanuki when he was seeing scales dipping and threads knotting - a skill Fai had never managed to develop. He had a good memory for debts and favors, but not an innate magical sense for it. He  _really_ would like to know what Tomoyo had apparently paid him back with, since this whole afternoon had been a car crash for him so far.

He sighed. “Is this some fortune-telling secret?”

Tomoyo laughed. “Yes, it is some fortune-telling secret. You'll figure it out soon enough. Say hi to Mokona for me, will you?”

“Will do!” Fai said, saluting her jokingly. “Come on, Sakura, let’s head out. We need to head over to the Poulsbo district to meet with those dwarves, and I’m pretty sure your smile is the only thing that can win them over! And your charging crystal, of course.”

“Oh! Right!” Sakura chirped, scooping up her bags and following Fai out of the door. “I’ll see you later, Tomoyo, Syaoran!”

“Good luck!” Tomoyo called after them, and was falteringly echoed by Syaoran.

Kurogane, Fai couldn’t help but notice, just stared at him. As ever.

Stars above, what was that guy’s _problem?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Lore notes!](http://robinauts.dreamwidth.org/1201.html)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor violence, and a wild animal death.

“Have fun!” Fai called over his shoulder as he closed the screen door. “Make sure to check your cauldron every twenty minutes, or else _you_ have to clean it up. Perform the activating spell _right_ when the sun touches the horizon, not before or after! There’s cookies in the pantry and lemonade in the fridge. Make sure it’s the one with the green lid, not the blue. That’s not lemonade.”

“I knoooow, Fai,” Sakura drawled from behind the mountain of books on the dining room table. She was crushing chrysanthemum stems in her mortar as Syaoran was typing away at his laptop, glancing at one of the three volumes he had open around him. “We’ll hold down the fort here. Have a good time visiting Watanuki! Send him my best!”

“Remember, _every twenty minutes_ -”

“ - Or I’ll have to clean it up! You’re gonna miss the bus!”

Over the past week, Syaoran - fueled by his curiosity and burgeoning friendship with Sakura - had ripped through Fai’s library, with the dining room table taken over by his research. Fai didn’t mind much; it was lovely the boy was so passionate about his work. Well, at the beginning he had minded a _little_ \- the first day Syaoran showed up to study, Kurogane made sure to escort him through the door and investigate the living area as if Fai was planning to hex, fatten, and eat him.

But each day Syaoran was returned safe and sound, and drop-offs had grown a bit less curt. This morning, Kurogane had even grunted through a bit of small talk today about how hot it was (very), did you hear about the bakery on 7th closing down (no), how is Tomoyo doing (fine), before he ruffled Syaoran’s hair and departed to do whatever he did all day.

One word answers were still something, Fai supposed. Better than trying to _scalp_ him.

The bus pulled up just as Fai jogged up to the stop, his lungs protesting in the hot, dry air, sun beating down on him. He swiped his card and sat down towards the back, watching the scenery pass as he was taken to old town.

It would be good to see Watanuki again.

-

“Fai!” Himawari called from over the counter, clear voice mixing with the shimmer of bells attached to the shop’s door. “Good afternoon!”

“Good afternoon!” yelled the black Mokona from his perch by the eel tongues.

“Good afternoon, you two,” Fai replied in turn, shivering a bit as his sweat cooled rapidly in the air conditioning. “How’s your day been?”

“ _Very_ good,” Himawari said, giving him a cheeky smile. “You can just head on up - I know who you’re _really_  here for.”

Fai pushed through the counter gate swiftly, kissing Himawari on the cheek as he passed. “But still! I should say hello to the most beautiful apothecarist in Fairhaven, right? How else will I get all those discounts?”

Himawari’s laughter followed him as he climbed up the stairs from the renovated storefront. Even though he had been patroning the new location of _Doumeki’s Fine Goods_ to get his potions supplies refilled for the past year, and even though he himself had been a major organizer and supporter of the move - a childish part of him still howled at the difference from its previous occupant.

The apartment was covered with humming electric fans and noticeably cleaner than the last time he had visited - Fai couldn’t help but imagine a newly-home Watanuki, still in his travelling clothes, furiously dusting the curtains as Doumeki and Himawari tried to coax him to bed.

And then there he was, sitting at the table clipping coupons - his classmate, the person who has known him the longest, the closest thing he has left to a brother - _Kimihiro_.

Fai dropped his bags and, well, he wouldn’t say he _ran_ to Watanuki, but it was a close thing. He wrapped him up in a hug, relishing in Watanuki’s good old surprised yelp. Then he felt arms squeeze him tightly in return, and the two of them stood there for a couple of moments.

“I can’t believe it’s only been a year,” Fai murmured into his old sophomore’s hair. “It feels so much longer. Ooooh, I missed you _so much._ ”

“It’s good to be back,” Watanuki replied warmly. They disentangled, and Watanuki puttered into the kitchen. “Do you want some iced tea?”

“Yes, please,” Fai said, sitting down at the bar, watching with some amusement as Watanuki had to rifle through the cupboards for a minute before finding some cups. “Haven’t gotten used to the new layout?”

Watanuki huffed, “I’ve been back for a _day_ , don’t you start too. Were you the one that messed it all up?”

Fai raised his hand. “Guilty as charged - Himawari and Shizuka asked me to do it around the new year, as part of converting the wish shop to the new location of the Doumeki apothecary. I’m glad Yuuko made me learn how to - I think I did pretty well! Remember my first try at moving house?”

“Well, compared to _that_ catastrophe, _anything_ is better,” Watanuki replied haughtily (too haughtily for someone four years younger and four inches shorter, but Watanuki had always thought himself taller than he really was) as he plucked ice cubes from a tray. “Moon knows the two of you have dragged this poor place through enough.”

“It’s still strange though, isn’t it,” Fai said, looking around the place, tone dropping. “When you left, it was all draperies and luxury and so ornate, all of it so… her. And I had moved out, so I wanted to make it something more _you_.”

Watanuki deposited the iced tea in front of him and leaned on the counter. “It looks just fine. It’s very tidy and neat, and I didn’t need all the rooms Yuuko had. It’s weird without all your stuff lying around -”

_“Hey!”_

“But Himawari and Shizuka seem to like it, so I do too.”

Fai flicked Watanuki on the nose. “You big _sap,_ Kimihiro - you’re calling him _Shizuka_ now! What happened to ‘ooooooh, _that **Doumeki** , _with his horrible broad shoulders and terrible good traits!’? That’s all I ever seemed to hear during your teenage years! And now you're all mushy about the two of them, you _utter goober_.”

 _“Shut up!”_ Watanuki yowled, swatting away his hand to Fai’s laughter. “Himawari has _always_ been perfect! And Shizuka has grown more tolerable, _I guess_.”

“‘Tolerable.’ _Right_.” Laughing harder, Fai dodged Watanuki’s hand and darted into the living room with his iced tea. After taking a moment to snarl to himself, Watanuki followed him, both of them sitting on the overstuffed couch.

“You kept this old thing,” Watanuki remarked as he was partially consumed by the couch cushions. “I remember, when I first came here, I slept on this until Yuuko made me a room. It was so comfortable, but I was terrified I would suffocate. Is it still in the same place?”

“Mm-hm,” Fai said. “You know, I think it’s charmed to be bound to this spot? This and the store house - can’t touch ‘em when you do the moving magics. You’ll be stuck with it here unless you get Shizuka to carry it away with his big manly muscles.” 

Watanuki rolled his eyes again but just said, “Maybe one day. It’s kind of nice, having this one constant.”

“How are you doing?” Fai asked softly.

There was a pause.

“... I would be lying if I said I was totally fine,” Watanuki finally said, piecing through his words carefully. “When I left last December, her passing was the only thing anyone was thinking about. It was _cataclysmic_. And now I come back and… everyone’s basically moved on. You’ve got a house and an apprentice of your own, and Yuuko’s shop is now _Doumeki’s Fine Goods_ and the apartment’s all different. I can’t fault any of you for that. I can only be glad you waited for me.

“I needed to leave. I was just laying in bed, wasting away, while you sorted out her affairs and took on her responsibilities. You and Shizuka and Himawari were so worried about me, and looking back I really was in a terrible state; I was nearly driven mad with grief. It was like I was always standing in front of her funeral pyre - I didn’t know what to do without her, I couldn’t move on. You had finished your education by that point and had become Yuuko’s assistant more than her apprentice. But I was… left in a lurch. I felt half a person. Incomplete.

“I still feel bad for leaving everything to you, but going on a journey really did help. Just getting away from constant reminders that she was _gone._ Seeing the world outside of Fairhaven - I was able to figure out who _I_ am, besides Yuuko’s apprentice, or your sophomore, or some little boy who saw too many spirits. Who Kimihiro is. And I’m pretty sure that I have, now. And I’m ready to be him with everyone else now.”

Love and affection for Watanuki spread through Fai’s chest. Here was the boy who had appeared seven years ago in their front hall frightened and confused, plagued by spirits and all alone in the world, clinging to Yuuko’s elbow and looking to her as if she were the sun. The boy who had lived down the hall from him, who he had taught to make crepes, who he had laughed with when potions and charms inevitably blew up in their faces in shared lessons. The boy who had wept with him as Yuuko’s body burned upon her funeral pyre last year.

Here he was, finally happy and so, so strong.

Fai couldn’t help but lean over and embrace him again. “I’m so proud of you, Kimihiro,” he murmured, and he really, truly was.

“Thank you,” Watanuki whispered back. Fai pretended not to notice the few tears dampening his shoulder.

After a while, Watanuki drew back his arms and stood, blotting at his eyes with his wrists. “I’m, um - do you want a refill? I can get you a refill.”

Fai glanced at his half full glass. “Sure,” he replied, and let Watanuki flee to the kitchen.

“So tell me more about how you’ve been!” Watanuki said brightly, going through the pantry and trying to put the heavy conversation to rest. “Your letters always told me a lot, but it’s not the same as _talking_ with you.”

And from there it turned to everything Watanuki had missed in his time away. How the first year as resident witch had gone -

“I think I’ve finally gotten Seishirou to listen to me, but I don’t think I’ll _ever_ get him to respect me the same way he did Yuuko.” “That’s not you, that’s just _Seishirou_.” “He still refuses to let his lawn brown, I’m _this_ close to giving up on it… I just don't want to go over to his creepy house, honestly.”

How Sakura was doing -

“I can’t wait for you two to properly meet!” “She sounds so sweet from your letters - I would have thought you'd bring her, where is she?” “She’s back home, she started the ritual for bone growth salve yesterday and can’t be too far from the cauldron… and there’s the added bonus of a cute boy.” “ _Teenagers_.” “You are literally only twenty years old.” 

News about the drought -

“Hm… I’ll make sure to look into it. This is troubling.” “Tomoyo can’t see anything about it - she’s blocked.” _“Tomoyo?”_ “I know, right? It’s frightening. The boy I mentioned earlier - he thinks it might be something like a bolla, or a phoenix, or a hanba - he even mentioned a cherufe, but he’s really reaching there.” “We have no volcanoes around here.” “I think he was just throwing out creatures associated with heat and light and drought; he’s the apprentice of a hunter and it’s kinda his thing.”

The hunters -

“We have hunters stomping onto our turf, and acting like _that?_ Sun above, you must _hate_ this.” “Ah, well… they’re not as bad as I first thought?” “... what do you mean by that. You just said he almost scalped you.” “I mean, Kurogane made a bad first impression, and he’s still an ass, but he really seems to care about his apprentice? Who is a very sweet kid. And he’s in the profession for what seems like noble intentions. And he’s Tomoyo’s cousin, so he's gotta have some decent genes. And he’s even funnier than _you_ to tease! Which is an accomplishment.” “... okay, Fai.” “But he’s still an ass.”

And eventually, it settled back to the shop again.

“So are you going to employ yourself at Doumeki’s Fine Goods? Or just stay their landlord?” Fai asked, taking a sip from his third glass of iced tea.

“ _Ha!_ I _am_  Shizuka’s landlord, huh!” Watanuki cackled. “I could kick him out for getting, like, slug brains everywhere! I have the power! I have the _control!_ ”

“Wouldn’t your bed be awfully empty with only two?” Fai teased. “I made it king-sized for a _reason_ , don’t tell me you guys haven’t tested it out yet!”

“Don’t be _obscene!”_ Watanuki spluttered. “I’ve only been back for a day! I’ve been too tired to do anything of… _that sort!"_  Still bright red, he took a hasty drink from his tea, ignoring Fai’s giggles. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking about starting to accept wishes again, or maybe do spirit consultations… I’ve always been pretty good at that, and I got way better during my journey. Potion making and charms and all that constructional, active magic stuff have always been your deal - I wouldn’t do well as a freelance witch, not with you for competition.”

“Aw, don’t say that, you'd be _amazing_ ,” Fai wheedled, but Watanuki continued on.

“Once I settle in, I’ll start up the wish shop again, or get a medium certification. Maybe you can add an extra room for it on the shop floor - I don’t know, I’ll figure the specifics out later. But I know I can grant wishes and talk to ghosts. That’s what I can do.” Watanuki leaned back into the cushions. “I don’t just want to laze around all day as Shizuka and Himawari’s house husband, living off the apothecary and Yuuko’s inheritance. I want to do something with myself. I’m not just Yuuko’s apprentice anymore.”

“You’re not. You’re you.”

Watanuki shook his head gently. “I mean… I’ll always _have been_ Yuuko’s apprentice. I would never change that, not for anything in the world. But I want to move on and be an adult, like you.”

“If you think I’m a model adult, you must’ve been away longer than you thought,” Fai joked lowly.

“But being back in Fairhaven… I still feel Yuuko’s presence all around town,” Watanuki murmured, gazing into the air. “Even though I’ve been gone for a year. It feels like she’s still here with us, if I just let myself forget.”

“I don't think we'll ever know every secret she had tucked away,” Fai said. "She was incredibly powerful."  _I could never live up to her_ , he didn’t say. He didn’t want to burden Watanuki with his troubles; he had only just gotten back on his feet.

Watanuki looked at him knowingly. “And _you’re_ incredibly powerful too, if in a different way. There’s a reason the title of resident witch was passed to you, not me. Because you’re suited for it - you have the right personality. She made the correct choice in heirs. And anyway, I don’t really want that position.” He glanced down at the engagement ring on his hand, and an achingly soft smile bloomed on his face. “I’ve figured out where I belong.”

Most of Fai was happy at how settled and mature Watanuki had become. But there was a small, rotten part that _hated_ how his sophomore, his _lesser,_ had achieved domestic bliss so easily, had grown and become sure of himself and gotten past his demons. That dark, hateful part of him that whispered constantly - that wanted to abandon his post because _I don't deserve it, look at Kimihiro, he's got it all figured out, I can't even fix the drought, why does everyone think I can do this, why can't I leave like everyone else, I'm not even supposed to be here, it would have been easier and better if I had died with both of them that day._

 _No, no_. Fai felt so removed from the smile fixed on his face. _I don’t deserve anything. Stiff upper lip. Don't burden him. Don’t be even more selfish than you already are. Be quiet. Be quiet._  

“Oi.”

Fai was brought back from a brink by a deep, steady voice from the stairwell.

Watanuki rolled his eyes. “Can’t you see I’m having a _personal conversation_ , you big oaf?”

Doumeki poked his head into the room. “Fai. There’s this guy downstairs asking for you.”

Fai straightened. “Is it resident business?”

Doumeki shrugged. “Wouldn’t say. We asked. Said he wouldn’t speak with anyone but you.”

There was a sinking feeling in Fai’s gut, and his darker thoughts were subsumed by mild dread and curiosity. “Is he tall? Spiky hair? Red eyes? Kinda pissed?”

“Yup.”

 _Belladonna and hemlock_. What was this guy’s _deal?_ “Ugh. Kimihiro, remember the hunter I told you about earlier?”

Watanuki raised an eyebrow. “Is that him?”

Fai flashed him a wry smile. “It sure is. Would you rather I talk to him downstairs?”

“Yes, please. Here, I’ll join you in witch solidarity.” Both of them got up and went to the stairs; Watanuki pressed a kiss to Doumeki’s cheek as they passed, and Doumeki stuck close behind as they made their way down. Fai loosened his limbs, put on a charming smile, and in general tried to appear as annoyingly cheerful as he could. Time to forge into battle.

And there was Kurogane, standing on the other side of the counter, looking pissed as ever.

“Fai, a big mean puppy wandered in after you!” Mokona teased from the chandelier.

Kurogane ignored him. “The kids told me I could find you here,” he said shortly. “Come with me.”

Fai leaned across the counter next to Himawari, who was looking on with worry, her hand ready on a dagger below the counter. “I’m not just gonna do as you say just because you say so! Gimme some more info, big guy.”

A glare. Fai’s smile widened further. “It’s important. Let’s go.”

“Important _how?”_ Fai said, getting all up in Kurogane’s space. Himawari giggled uneasily from behind him. “Is something on fire? Or did you lose your library book? I could help with that, I know the returns guy - Vassago, he’s a real sweetheart - I can get you an extension. Or, ooooh, do you wanna take me on a _lunch date?_ ”

Kurogane was almost boiling with irritation - it was _so fun_ to bring this guy down a peg. “No, you _idiot_. I want your assistance with something. Come on.” He reached over the counter and grabbed Fai’s arm, yanking him forward.

“Hey.” Doumeki’s hand landed on Kurogane’s. Both men drew themselves to their full heights - Kurogane had an inch or three on Doumeki, but the latter had a definite presence as well as his fiances at his shoulders. “Let go of him.”

They glowered at each other for a moment, split by the counter. Then Kurogane retracted his hand.

“Why don’t you start with what you want Fai for?” Watanuki said coolly. “Then he can decide if he wants to leave with you.”

Kurogane crossed his arms. “Fine. There’s a vielfraß lurking around the neighborhood by Laurel Park. It's already killed and eaten one adult man, out biking after sunset. I don’t want to get Syaoran involved because he’s researching and his training isn't far enough along for this, but it would be unsafe for me to go in alone.”

Taking all this in, Fai first asked, “A veel-frass?”

Kurogane scoffed. “A jerff, a gulon, whatever. Big hairy hungry thing.”

“Oh! A gulon!” Fai exclaimed, mind pulling up a description in one of Yuuko’s old bestiaries. “Wh - we haven’t had one of those out of the mountains in… well, as long as I can remember. And never one that went after a _human_ … Kimihiro, do you recall…?”

“No, I don’t,” Watanuki murmured, brow furrowing. “Moon above, what’s it doing in town?”

“Drought,” Doumeki commented. 

Fai felt sick. He should have fixed this problem ages ago, and here it was, driving murderous creatures into his city, hurting people he was supposed to protect…

“I’ll go,” he said. Watanuki looked at him in surprise. “Let me grab my things. Kimihiro, do you have any leftovers I can take?”

“Uh, I think so. Here, let me go with you.” The two of them pounded up the stairs, and Fai was reminded of the two of them chasing each other around Yuuko’s store years ago, when things were less complicated.

As Fai got his belongings in order, Watanuki rooted around the fridge and had four tupperware containers ready for Fai to dump into his bag.

Before they went back downstairs, Watanuki stopped him. “Be careful out there,” he murmured. “Especially with that hunter. He seems...”

“I know, but you don’t have to worry. He won’t hurt me,” Fai replied, and despite not really wanting to, he believed himself.

Watanuki sighed, then whispered a protective spell. Fai felt the strength of it rush around him, and kissed the top of Watanuki’s head in thanks before rushing downstairs.

“Ready to go!” he chirped at Kurogane, hopping over the counter. “I came here by bus, so are we walking?”

“I have a car,” Kurogane replied. “You brought food?” Fai brandished the contents of his bag. “Good. That’ll cut down on time.” He headed to the door.

“Were you going to drag me _grocery shopping?”_ Fai called after him, laughing. Kurogane didn’t deign to respond.

Fai turned to the trio at the till. “I’ll call you guys later tonight,” he told them. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Stay safe!” Himawari said, patting his shoulder. “We appreciate your patronage and all.”

“You owe us dinner to replace all those leftovers,” Watanuki scoffed, but Fai felt the spell surge around him.

“Watch your back!” Mokona yelled from the chandelier, reaching down to bat at Fai’s head.

Doumeki looked him in the eye, in that certain way he had. “You’ll be fine.”

Fai flashed them all a grateful smile and followed Kurogane out the door.

-

The car ride lasted about fifteen minutes, and Fai was amazed that there hadn’t been a significant spat. Instead, they traded information about the creature they were about to take care of:

About the size of a wolf, with feline and vulpid features. Gluttonous - can and will take down prey larger than it. Will gorge itself until it can eat no more. Usually found deep in cold forests as it prefers dark spaces for dens. Must be feeding in town due to being driven out by the light and the reduced prey population. Categorized as a dark beast due to its intelligence, willingness to eat human flesh, and black blood. Kurogane had fought one a few years back and came out of it alive but cautious.

They arrived at the park in the haze of late afternoon - Fai found himself sorely missing the apothecary’s array of fans in the oppressive heat - and Kurogane parked the car, then turned to him.

“Plan of attack,” Kurogane began. “It’s most likely in the trees over there. We’ll place the food you brought strategically in order to lure it out. We’ll need to entrap it somehow so I can kill it. If it goes towards the bait closest to me, I’ll maneuver myself so that it gets stuck between those two trees over there.” He pointed at the trees he spoke of. Then he reached into the detritus that covered his backseat. “If it goes toward your bait, snare it with this net, and I’ll run over and finish the job.”

Fai nodded and took the proffered net. “Sounds good. How are you going to kill it?”

Kurogane just showed him his iron dagger, which seemed to speak for itself.

They went over placements for the food and the finer movements for their attack, possibilities and alternatives, and Fai was struck by how deliberate and well thought out Kurogane’s methods were. Last Friday, in the disconnect and confusion of the Vila hunt, the man had seemed brutish and hasty, every worst stereotype about hunters Fai had ever heard; now, properly working together with him in an area that seemed to be his specialty, Fai found himself nodding along and trusting Kurogane’s judgment - and to his pleasant surprise, his own suggestions were regarded seriously and usually accepted. It was an easy back-and-forth filled with blooming mutual respect.

It was strange, but… very nice, Fai reflected as they moved to their positions in the park, placing the four containers of food in certain locations - one near the edge of the grove, one near each of their stations, and one in between them. He hadn’t worked with an _equal_ in a very long time. It was always an apprentice, or a sophomore, or someone who wasn’t in his area of expertise - or Yuuko.

_Still, if he continues to be as abrupt with me as he has been, I’m not going to invite him over for tea and cookies anytime soon._

He deposited the chicken parmesan in a little pile by some bushes, and moved to the playground around twenty feet away to watch and wait. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kurogane crouch behind some shrubs, watching his own bait.

They stayed like that for ten minutes, the sun slowly slipping down in the sky, the heat baking their skin.

Then there was a rustling in the trees, and a dark silhouette appeared. Fai could hear panting. He looked to Kurogane - he had spotted it too, his back straight and his eyes keen.

The gulon.

The creature appeared at the edge of the trees, sniffing the air. Its fur was dark brown and matted; its jowls were slavering and full of yellow, chipped teeth.

It darted towards the pile of beef and broccoli at perimeter of the grove, scarfing it down loudly and swiftly.

Then it went for the brisket, right in the middle. It paused, sniffing the air.

And then it moved for the chicken parmesan near him, and Fai tensed, ready to pounce, but the gulon didn’t stop to eat the chicken parmesan. It tore right past it, straight towards -

Shit. Shit shit shit. Fai managed to get the net over the gulon just before it reached him, and its thrashing limbs tangled it quickly in the ropes. He got ahold of it and pinned it down as best he could, and heard the stomping of Kurogane’s feet as he dashed over.

“Do you have a secure grip on it?” he demanded, crouching next to him.

“Yes,” Fai panted, adrenaline still coursing through him, sparking up his mind. Kurogane seemed huge next to him. “Wait. Wait.”

Kurogane paused for a moment, knife poised to attack. “What? What happened, are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine,” Fai said, watching the gulon go limp and stiff, hissing in breaths through clenched teeth, its eyes darting around wildly. He could see its ribs. “But - the gulon. It’s just frightened. Wait. It’s just scared, and hungry.”

“No -”

“Just hold on a moment - “ Fai began, turning towards Kurogane to tell him that no, it’s just a poor desperate animal, it’s not inherently bad, not deserving of death, _I can help it, this is **my fault** -_

And his grip on the net loosened for a split second.

The gulon snarled and sprang at him, at his throat -

And Kurogane _slammed_ into him, shoving him out of the way with his whole body, and the gulon’s fangs sank into his left arm. He roared with pain as the gulon convulsed, trying to rip off some flesh to consume, to fill its ravenous stomach. Fai could only watch in horror, sprawled on the ground, dirt on his face, as Kurogane grit his teeth to bear through it, and then he raised his knife, the gulon trapped just as they had planned, but because of Fai’s _stupidity_ they had ensnared it with _Kurogane’s flesh and blood and pain, someone else sacrificed in his place, oh sun above -_

And the knife fell on the gulon’s throat, and black blood sprayed across Kurogane’s lap, and the gulon howled piteously, and twitched, and twitched, and fell still.

There was a moment when all Fai was aware of was Kurogane’s heavy breathing and the red blood that dripped from his arm. They barely moved.

Then Kurogane exhaled, and his right hand gently removed the gulon’s teeth from his arm.

Fai woke from his shock and scrambled up towards him. “I’m -”

Kurogane held up his right hand - his left arm still laid in his lap, bleeding sluggishly. “Shut up for a second.”

Fai hovered uselessly next to him in the silence, bursting with apologies, self admonishments, with confessions of his own folly - with self hatred - staring at the wound on his arm, as Kurogane sat there, motionless. Just breathing.

Fai almost wanted to scream at him to just do it, just yell at him already, call him the idiot foolish witch he was. The wait was killing him.

“You’ve never seen one of these before.”

Fai’s head snapped up. “Wh-what?”

“You said so. In the apothecary. You’ve never seen a vielfraß before.” His voice was moderate, a far cry from his usual brashness and the rebuke Fai was expecting to hear.

“No. No, I haven’t.”

Kurogane nodded. “Alright, then.” He stood, holding the gulon’s body by the scruff of its neck, blood still dripping from its throat. He moved toward a fire pit, dropped the carcass in, and dug a lighter from his pocket. His arm was held tenderly to his side.

Fai remained where he was. “You aren’t going to…”

“Yell at you?” Kurogane said, flicking at the lighter. “No. Why would I?”

“I nearly got you killed.”

“You didn’t. I knew what I was doing.” He bent, and lit some of the leftover starter. Smoke began to drift up into the sky. “You did what you thought was best. And you were wrong. But nobody got killed, so let’s move on.”

Fai unfroze, and stumbled over to the firepit, where the gulon’s fur had started to catch. “But I was an idiot.”

Kurogane sat heavily on the ground, watching the fire burn brighter. “If you wanna call yourself that, sure. But you just applied a method that wasn’t applicable here. It happens sometimes. The kid does it. I do it.”

Fai sat down next to him, mind working through the numbness of retreating shock and panic. They both stared at the pyre. The evening air filled with the stench of burning hair and cooking meat.

“I don’t understand why you’re not mad at me,” Fai eventually murmured.

Kurogane shrugged. “Wouldn’t do anything, would it? My arm got hurt, and it’ll heal.”

“But I let it get away. I had it. You could have taken care of it just fine. You... you got hurt in my place.”

A sigh, and another pause. When Kurogane spoke next, he spoke deliberately and surely.

“The way I see it, you’re used to dealing with sentient shit. Humans, fairies. Vilas. But that was an _animal_. It does not have morals. It is not ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ It is only hungry, and very likely to kill me and other people. You. It was going to kill _you_.”

He looked significantly at Fai, and Fai felt like he was sitting in Yuuko’s bathtub again, fourteen years old, back bleeding from self-inflicted scratches.

“In my line of work, my goal is to save as many lives as I can; I travel all around all the time handling dark creatures like this. Since I have the ability and knowledge to handle shit like this, me staying alive that means other people will stay alive. People who have no chance against dark creatures.

“Your first instinct was to try and reason with it. That’s admirable; I can respect that. I know lots of people who unload silver into every magical thing they see. You wanted to help it. But sometimes that just doesn’t work. You can’t reason with something that only wants to eat you.”

Fai absorbed all of this as best he could, staring into the burgundy flames of a dark creature going up in smoke. He was still in shock. Kurogane’s blood still dripped from his arm.

“You could have made different choices, but you made the ones you thought were best. Like I did with the vila - I’ve thought about that night a lot, and you made better choices than I did. I'll admit that I'm not used to dealing with sentient shit; this is your town, and you know how it works. It's why I brought you in today. What happened then happened, and that’s what happened now happened too. To be mad at you would be hypocritical of me.”

The admission of incorrect judgment hit Fai like a bus - he never would have expected this speech from the man he met last Friday. Processing it - the speaker, the message - calmed somewhat the swirling guilt in his stomach.

“... I’m still really sorry about the bite, big guy,” Fai finally said, nudging the other with his elbow.

Kurogane sighed. “If you really gotta apologize, fine. Whatever. Do as you like.”

“You’re so _cold_ ,” Fai whined. “Just say ‘apology accepted’ and let me wallow in guilt properly!”

“I don’t _want_ you to ‘wallow in guilt,’” Kurogane said, rolling his eyes. “I’ve had way worse.”

“You’re a real tough muffin, arentcha!” Fai leaned into Kurogane’s space, examining his arm. “I can get you a salve for that, though. I have some stores of something just perfect for bites like that back at home.”

Kurogane raised an eyebrow. “You deal with this kind of shit often?”

“Nah, I usually stick to the city myself, the woods aren't actually my jurisdiction - I just sell potions to whoever's looking to buy. But I’ll give a freebie to  _you_ , my brave savior!” Fai joked, tapping him on the nose. He still felt sick every time he looked at Kurogane’s wound, but teasing him about it helped subsume the guilt and self-hatred somewhat. Sweep it under the rug. Don’t let him see with those damned red eyes. Don’t burden someone else.

At first it looked like Kurogane was going to start yelling at him in that delightful way of his, and wouldn't he look so funny and handsome in the late sunset light - but he just shook his head, grumbling under his breath. Fai caught something about _witch_ and _dense_ and _for his own good_. “Fine,” he eventually said. “You don’t need to fix me up to make up for whatever you think you did wrong, but I’d appreciate it.”

That… wasn’t what he had expected at all. Fai opened his mouth to push his buttons a little more, to push him _further away_ , this conversation had grown very scary very fast -

But then his ears felt muffled, and his vision greyed at the edges, and his mind felt numb and far away - he fell back - he saw Kurogane’s startled face -

And then nothing.

-

The first thing he saw was the ceiling of a car. It seemed darker than it had been.

 _Broken alder on the top of the holiest hill_. It had happened again.

“You’re awake.”

Fai just managed not to startle at Kurogane’s voice. “Yep. Sorry about the impromptu nap!”

He took stock of his state: he was sitting in the reclined passenger seat of Kurogane’s car, Kurogane was sitting next to him, the car was still parked in Laurel Park. Stars were out.

“What the hell was that.”

Fai ran his hands over his eyes and through his hair. Sun and stars, he felt terrible. “How long was I out?”

“Forty five minutes. What the hell was that.”

 _Forty five minutes…_ Fai glanced over at Kurogane, and was surprised at the look of deep concern easily visible on his face. “Sorry for inconveniencing you! I’m fine now. If you drive over to my house, I can get you the salve I mentioned pronto, and then you and Syaoran can be on your way. I’ll be just fine!”

“ _Inconveni_ \- I don’t give a shit about all that. Why did you fucking _collapse?”_ Kurogane demanded, pinning him down with a fiery glare.

“I don’t know why,” Fai admitted as casually as he could, fixing a little smile on his face even as his anxiety over the subject rose to the back of his throat. “For the past month or two, I just… faint, or get fatigued. Usually it’s after I do magic, but sometimes it’s random, like just now. I think it has something to do with the heat, but other than that I have no idea. I’m trying to figure it out. That’s all I have to tell you, sorry buddy-boy!”

There was a silence in the car. Fai kept the smile on and his eyes straight forward. He didn’t want to see Kurogane’s reaction. He wasn’t sure what he was dreading seeing.

Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Please don’t let Sakura know about that, er, fainting spell. And that _includes_ telling Syaoran.”

Kurogane snorted. “I’ll tell them whatever I damn well please, witch.”

“Please. She doesn’t need the worry.” Fai said tersely, gripping the seat’s upholstery until his knuckles went white, smile still on his face, still looking determinedly not at Kurogane. _Don’t let him under your skin._

“She’s your apprentice. She’s your backup. If anything happens to you, she needs to be able to deal with it and pick up the slack.”

Fai let out a harsh little laugh. “You make it sound as if we’re in a war.”

“I’m calling it like I see it.”

Kurogane started the car when Fai didn’t reply.

As they drove in silence through the dark, muggy streets of Fairhaven to Fai’s house, Fai risked a glance at Kurogane. He was sitting back in his seat comfortably, as if the car was his second home - it probably was, what with the nomadic hunter lifestyle. His eyes were fixed on the road, and his big hands clutched the steering wheel loosely.

 _I wonder if he carried me to the car,_ crept into his thoughts. _I wonder how he reacted._

Fai decided to blame it on the day’s excitement, and pushed it out of his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Lore notes!](http://robinauts.dreamwidth.org/1280.html)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor misgendering. If you need more information, see [this post](http://flovvright.tumblr.com/private/148825572929/tumblr_obsa3hhkL81qjbfof), although it's just a bit spoilery.

The next morning, a Wednesday (November 28th, the terrified voice in Fai’s head whispered over and over), Kurogane arrived to drop Syaoran off. He tried to leave promptly - tried to _bolt out of the door_ , more like - but Fai had grabbed him and dragged him to the kitchen counter to re-apply the bandages and salve.

“I don’t see why you have to do this,” Kurogane had griped as Fai peeled away the bandages, then held his arm under the faucet to clean it.

“Well, I pity you, for starters,” Fai said, dodging a swat to the head and giggling. “Two, this could get _very_ nasty _very_ fast without proper care. And three, you saved my life. That’s a monumental debt to repay, and this is making a dent in it.”

Kurogane scoffed, but settled down as Fai took a swab, dabbed it in the calendula and chamomile wax, and spread it on the bite marks. “I was just doing my job. That’s what I do. Save lives.”

Fai hummed, watching the inflamed skin lose some of its redness before applying a second coat. “Yes, that’s you, but I’m me. I’m a witch: debts are my bread and butter.”

“You’re not in any kind of debt,” Kurogane grumbled, looking out the window, drumming his fingers on the counter. “It wasn’t a big deal for me.”

There was a sudden pang in Fai’s chest, and he just managed to keep his hands steady. _Oh. Okay._  He quickly pasted on a smile and chirped, “Oh, so I guess you _don’t_ want the hundreds of brownies I was going to bake for you?”

“ _Brownies?”_ Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona chorused from the table, their attention immediately caught. That helped keep the smile on Fai’s face.

“In that case, good. I hate sweet shit,” Kurogane replied, rolling his eyes.

“ _What?”_ Fai gasped overdramatically. “You… _hate sweet things?”_

“Yeah,” Kurogane sighed as if had heard this before. “Can’t stand ‘em.”

Mokona leapt over from the table, landing in front of them and curling around the dish soap. “Oh! So _that’s_ why you’re so mean to Fai!” she remarked.

Kurogane looked like he wanted to smack Mokona into the sink, but was stymied by Fai’s grip on his arm. “Do you _slander me to your cat?"_

“I talk to her! She’s my _familiar_ , that’s the _point_ ,” Fai said, grabbing the gauze. “I guess I’ll have to come up with something else! Too bad, I wanted to do some baking.”

“You can bake if you want,” Kurogane said, flicking a stray daffodil petal at Mokona, who batted it away with her paw. “Just give it to Syaoran. He likes that shit, not me.”

“Can confirm,” Syaoran added, nose buried in a book. Sakura giggled.

Kurogane continued, “But you can consider last night payback for last Friday. I almost did something stupid then - you almost did something stupid the other night. No debt owed."

Mollified slightly, Fai said, “That’s... not really how it works, tough guy.” He kept his eyes to his work and hoped Kurogane didn’t pick up how much care he was taking in wrapping his arm. It felt so stupid.

“Well, that’s the deal we’re making.” Kurogane was perfectly lit by the mid-morning sun streaming in through the window, the light making his dark skin glow. Fai had finished redressing the injury, and now had no idea what to do with his hands. “Deal with it.”

“... _did you just make a joke?”_ Fai crowed, and Kurogane blustered with this _hilarious_ look on his face that no he hadn’t, and Fai and Mokona countered with oh yes he _had_ , and Sakura and Syaoran had laughed, and it was good. Before he left, Kurogane made Fai exchange contact information - _so I don’t have to run all over the damn place trying to get ahold of you_. Fai put his name in Kurogane’s phone as “Glinda the Good Witch,” which made Kurogane scowl and roll his eyes. That was a good morning, after all.

The next morning was also met with redressing Kurogane’s wound, applying the salve, and fun bickering. Kurogane and Mokona seemed to naturally hit it off - if hitting it off meant having the most entertaining little squabbles. Mokona took great delight in throwing things on Kurogane from high shelves, and Fai took great delight in elongating the process so Kurogane was trapped in his seat. Kurogane, being stuck until Fai was finished, was reduced to yelling up at Mokona that he’ll put her through the washing machine, _you hear me? Damn cat! Stop throwing grass on me!_ At one point he attempted to stand and make a grab at Mokona, but Sakura, who was washing the breakfast dishes, implored him to stay seated and _let Fai do his job!_

(The wink she threw at Fai once Kurogane had settled back down, grumbling half-heartedly, made everything so worth it.)

The morning after that, Kurogane stuck around for a bit after Fai tended to him. As Syaoran trailed after Sakura, who was explaining her morning chores to him (and kind of showing off her magic to her new friend, but it was sweet so Fai didn't embarrass her), Kurogane plopped down on the couch, holding his injured arm carefully to his chest, and pulled out a small leather-bound notebook.

Fai paused on his way to the back room. “... what are you up to, sweet cheeks?”

“Don’t call me that. It’s a journal,” Kurogane grunted, scribbling something down. “I keep a record of what’s going on, in case something alters my perception of reality.”

“You’re in no danger from lil ol’ me,” Fai warbled, leaning against the wall to ogle the expanse of Kurogane’s shoulders in his sleeveless shirt. _No harm in just looking_ , he told himself. _No harm at all._  “You’ve been letting me poke at your ouchies for a few days now. I thought we were past that point!”

Kurogane glanced up to glare at him. “Stop talking to me like I’m a toddler. And it has nothing to do with you, I’ve been doing this for years.”

“Ooh! I never had the patience for a diary. You should let me see _your_ diaries sometime!”

“ _No_.”

(Right after charging the Fount, Fai’s vision went in and out for a moment, and next thing he knew he was on the floor. Kurogane was crouched over him.

Sun and stars. Not again. Not during this ritual. “How long was I out?” he murmured resignedly.

“Not long,” Kurogane said. “I heard a thud and came back here.”

“Where are Sakura and Syaoran?”

“Still out in the backyard, yelling about flowers or birds or whatever. You good to get up?”

“Yeah.” Fai got an elbow under himself, then felt himself wobble - he would have gone face-first into the hardwood if Kurogane hadn’t caught him. He was then lifted to his feet.

How humiliating.

“Thanks for the help, Mister Muscles!” Fai chirped, darting towards the hall, avoiding looking at Kurogane. “I have some paperwork to do in my office. Boring stuff! You can stick around for a while if you want, but don’t be a nuisance! Mokona gets bored, you know!”

He could feel Kurogane’s gaze on the back of his head; he kept his gait as steady as possible until he was safe behind a closed door. There, he shook, and shook, and shook.

Less than a month left.)

On Saturday, Fai woke with Sakura shaking his shoulder and whispering his name over and over again. Early morning light was falling onto his face.

“What is it, sparrow?” he yawned. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“Um, no,” she said. “Just, Tomoyo called me?”

This made Fai sit bolt upright. “What? Did something happen? Does she need to talk to me?”

Sakura seemed taken aback, and turned a bit pink. “Oh! No, nothing like that! She said that they’re all coming over with breakfast, since she has the day off.”

Oh. Well, that’s a relief. … Wait. “They?”

“Tomoyo and Syaoran and Kurogane. She didn’t want to impose, but she said her stove is broken? And they picked up some food.”

“Moon and Mars and _mud_ ,” Fai muttered, tying back his hair. He knew damn well that Tomoyo could fix her own oven - what was she plotting now? “Did she say when they’re arriving?”

“She said they were driving north on Hibiscus right now? But, um, I don’t know how long that’ll take? Sorry.”

 _Mud mud mud_. _The nastiest mud ever dredged up from the bottom of the dirtiest lake in the world._ “Not very long, unfortunately. Could you get some plates out for our guests?”

She rushed out of his room, and he darted over to his vanity. There wouldn’t be time for them to get properly dressed, but he hurriedly ran his hands through his hair to get it a step below bird's nest and got on his binder. There was a knock on the door and Sakura yelled “In a sec!!” just as he was getting his shirt back on, and he glanced at himself one more time in the mirror.

… not how he would prefer to be seen by guests, but just-crawled-out-of-bed would have to be his look for the morning. Fai went out to the front rooms just as the others walked in, Tomoyo and Syaoran looking mildly red as Sakura took some of the paper bags from them and thanked them profusely. Mokona was twining around their ankles, already begging for a morsel. Kurogane was brought up the rear, closing the door behind him and holding a jug of apple juice. He looked up at Fai and stopped in place, staring at him.

“Despite what my pajamas may tell you, I promise I can stay awake for longer than ten minutes at a time,” Fai joked quietly up at him, internally a bit annoyed. So he had fainted in front of Kurogane for the second time yesterday - it didn’t mean he was some wilting violet. “I’ll take care of your arm after we eat, grouchypants.”

Kurogane nodded jerkily, and sat down heavily at the table to crack open the juice, staring intently at his task.

Must not be a morning person.

A large box of donuts and a ludicrous amount of yogurt were deposited on the table. Sakura had to drag over a stool from by the cauldron, but eventually they all got seated. Fai had not had a breakfast table this full in a while, and it was… nice. (It was also nice to not have to cook.)

After eating his fill, Fai excused himself to the back room. The teenagers remained around the table, feeding bits of donut to Mokona and chatting, but Kurogane silently pushed back his chair and followed him.

Fai managed to hide his irritation until they were out of earshot. Then he turned to Kurogane and said sweetly, “Recharging the Fairhaven crystal is one of my primary duties as resident witch, and so I can’t have you interfering. Sorry! I know I’m super cool and all.”

Kurogane crossed his arms. “I’m not going to interfere.”

“Then you have no reason to be back here.” Smile. Smile. Smile.

“I’m here in case you pass out.”

“I won’t.” _Very convincing smile. Get him and his condescension out of here_.

“Good. I’ll be outside the door.” And with that, he stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Fai just wanted to _scream_ at him, to grab him by the hair and ask why he insisted on being like this (why he insisted on watching and following him as if he had to be protected, as if he was a thing worth protecting), but instead he took a few deep breaths, settled himself, and knelt in front of the Fount.

He could do at least _this_ duty successfully.

When he was finished, he stood and his legs supported him this time. He hated the sigh of relief that poured from him, but the ritual had settled his energies and his mind for the most part. The crystal gleamed in the morning sun as he left the room.

Kurogane was leaning against the opposite wall. He looked him up and down and nodded. “Come do your witch stuff to my arm,” he grumbled, and Fai found himself trailing after him back to the kitchen.

Apparently the kids wanted to go out and walk around downtown today - Sakura turned pleading eyes on Fai for permission to go while Syaoran did the same to Kurogane. Tomoyo sat there between them, a happily independent young lady. Fortunetellers do not require much adult supervision.

Fai, from his spot at the counter administering the salve to Kurogane’s injury, smiled indulgently - he was always weak to Sakura. “Sure thing - I’ll even cover your chores for today.” Her face lit up. “... provided you vacuum the house and do all the laundry tomorrow!”

Sakura looked a bit disgruntled at that, but still pleased. “Alright! I’m gonna go get ready real fast, hold on a minute!” She ran off to her room.

Syaoran was still looking for his permission. And here, Fai knew he had maneuvered Kurogane into _having_ to say yes, because if he didn't he would crush Sakura’s hopes and ruin Tomoyo’s day… as well as losing to Fai in the popularity contest.

Kurogane looked like he knew it too. “Fine,” he grunted. “Text me when you think you'll be done - you too, Tomoyo. Don't do anything stupid.”

A cheer sounded from Sakura’s room, and then she ran out in light clothing - even at the morning hour, it was obvious it would be a scorcher. Just like every day. Fai became aware that he was, rather conspicuously, the only person in the room still in pajamas.

“We’ll be back later,” Sakura said, giving Fai a careful hug so as to not disturb his work at Kurogane’s arm. “I’ll text you.”

He kissed her cheek. “Stay safe, sweetheart.”

As the screen door banged behind the departing troupe, Fai turned to Kurogane with a leer. “You big ol’ _softie!_ I’m surprised you didn’t hand off the keys to your car!”

Kurogane scowled. “Kid deserves to goof off sometimes,” he said. “He doesn’t get a lot of friends. We move around too much. And he’s nearly an adult, he can make his own decisions. You baby your apprentice too much.”

“I don’t ‘baby’ her,” Fai replied, cinching the bandages a little too roughly. “I treat her kindly. Would you rather I not? I’m all she has; she deserves a pleasant home while she figures out what happened to her.”

“Heard you’re doing most of the work there.”

Fai suppressed another swell of indignation - he would be having some words with Tomoyo regarding how much she told her cousin. “Considering her memory only goes back less than a year, I think it’s fine if she wants to focus on building a new wealth of experience instead of spending all her time with her nose buried in ancient books, searching for answers she may never find. I can take care of that; I’m responsible for all residents of this city. That includes her.”

He waited for Kurogane to make another comment about Sakura - _go on, try it_ \- but none came. Kurogane just nodded once and sat back, watching Fai wrap his arm with gauze.

When he finished, Fai stood up and pushed the quart of nectar into Kurogane’s arms. If Kurogane was going to criticize what Fai did for Sakura, well, he could take on some of that apparent burden. “If you’re going to hang around like you did yesterday, make yourself useful and put this into the hummingbird feeder on the back porch. There’s also a bag of seed out there; spread it around.”

“I’m not your _replacement apprentice,_ witch,” Kurogane grumbled, but plodded to the back door regardless. His grumpiness was sort of ruined with the intent to feed birds, and Fai was reluctantly charmed as he went to salt line the boundaries.

When he stepped outside to bless the gardens, Kurogane was sitting on the porch, birds clustered at his feet. There was even one perched on his knee.

“Goodness, they like you nearly as much as they do Sakura!” Fai commented cheerily. “It must be part of your _animal magnetism_ , huggy bear.”

“I’m doing this because you made me!” Kurogane growled, throwing a handful of birdseed at Fai.

“And you’re doing a wonderful job!” Fai chirped, picking up some soil. He murmured a few words in his learned tongue and tossed the soil across the plants, and felt the rush of _life_ that echoed back at him, slightly lifting his hair and making both parties in the exchange glow.

He had always loved doing this, which is why he had Sakura do it every morning. It suited her - she seemed full of boundless life.

Although the wilting leaves and stems of the plants detracted from the positivity. He sighed. He would water the poor things more frequently, but he had been the one to push for water rationing. Hopefully they would survive the sunshine.

Kurogane had pulled out his journal while he had done this, and was determinedly scribbling something when Fai stopped at his shoulder - he tried to peek, but Kurogane’s handwriting was too garbage to read at first glance.

“I’m going to get dressed,” Fai announced.

Kurogane grunted, eyes fixed to his work.

“After that, I have some contracts to settle and sigils to write, all that good stuff, so I won’t be able to entertain you today!”

“Is that you telling me to leave.”

“It’s me saying that you’re welcome to stick around for a while, but I’m a very busy bee, so I can’t take you for walkies,” Fai remarked, flitting inside just in time to avoid Kurogane’s swat, laughing all the while.

Mokona was sunbathing in the middle of the dining room table - the heat made her so lethargic (well, more than normal). She lazily lifted one eye when Fai passed her. “Kuro-cutie sure is somethin’, huh,” she purred.

“Yup!” Fai said, rooting around the potion pantry for a bottle of Styx ink. “He acts more like a growly puppy than Syaoran ever does. It’s pretty funny!”

“Suuuuure,” she said, hopping up on the counter beside him. “If _that’s_ how ya wanna put it.”

“Not sure what you mean with your tone, Moko!”

Mokona took a deep breath - oh no - and yowled, “FAI HAS A CRUUUUU - “

In startled desperation to _shut his familiar up he’s right outside_ , Fai tore open a bag of catnip, and Mokona’s yell petered off into a pleased hum.

“Mokona, I don't really appreciate that insinuation,” Fai said with a grin, holding the herb above his head.

“... are you purr-posing  a deal?” Mokona drawled, eyes trained on her prize.

“Of a sort. If you don’t make those kind of jokes again, I’ll give you some.”

Her eyes narrowed, tail switching back and forth. “... deal.”

Mokona occupied, Fai took his leave.

Over the next few days, there were no morning _incidents_ \- for one, Kurogane’s arm was nearly healed, although he still hung around scribbling in his _diar_ y every morning. Fai even got him working on menial potion tasks.

But then it was the full moon , and Kurogane and Syaoran were driving out of town to a remote cabin so Syaoran could roam freely. The boy wasn’t feral; he kept his human form most days and kept most of his intelligence when shifted. He wasn’t a danger, but should still be out of urban areas. Just in case. Kurogane stayed with him, since the wolf trusted him implicitly, and in case anything happened.

Sakura (with assistance from Fai) brewed a potion to help ease the pain of transforming, and Syaoran accepted the flask gratefully. The exhaustion that came with the lunar cycle seemed to lift a bit and his ashen face lit up as he thanked her profusely. Kurogane ruffled Sakura’s hair, which seemed to be his method of thanking people.

The absence should have been a relief - no Kurogane lurking over his shoulder as if he would faint away at any moment - but instead it was… strange . Fai kept the household busy with fulfilling commissions and resolving community disputes, but too often he found his mind wandering back to the morning with the donuts, and how nice it was to sit around a table with Sakura, Tomoyo, and Syaoran chatting brightly and filling the room with laughter. And Kurogane across from him, looking serious and broad, but carrying the nobleness that he seemed to embody naturally, his face for once gentle in the morning sun.

On one of those days, Tomoyo came over to look at a certain grimoire. She was sitting in his office with him (he had fainted earlier and was resting there, taking care of correspondence), taking pictures of paragraphs with her phone, when Fai ventured to ask, “So what does your cousin usually spend his day doing when he’s not loafing around on my couch or out with a werewolf?”

Tomoyo blinked up at him, and then smiled. “I believe he gathers information. He walks around Fairhaven, learning the lay of the land and seeing if there’s any rumors of dark creatures in the city. Other days he stays on call for the hunter network, relaying information and such - he’s something of a celebrity in that culture.”

Fai laughed a bit. “Kuroburo as a celebrity! Imagine him on the cover of, like, Hunter’s Weekly!”

Tomoyo giggled with him at the image that brought forth, then remarked, “Although it has been interesting, him being at your house so much. Kurogane isn’t the sort to hang around like that, unless it’s for a case. He must be very comfortable.”

Something flipped in Fai’s stomach. He ignored it. “It’s because Syaoran’s here so much, studying - he wants to make sure Syaoran doesn’t realize how mean he is in comparison to me!”

Tomoyo hmm-ed in good humor and went back to her work, fortune-teller smile still on her face.

And that brought them to Thursday. It was the hottest day of the week, with temperatures up in the 90s - which was made even more glaring by the fact that it was the second week of December. Fai was practically wilting, but Sakura was flitting around just fine, hopped up on excitement for Syaoran’s return to town. As Fai sat at the table reading a number of letters about the drought (it was getting very bad, dark creatures in the city, days getting longer when they should be getting shorter, no one knew what to do - nothing he didn’t already know), she scooted around the kitchen, alternating between her assignment of a simple hair growth potion and juicing lemons for lemonade.

It was nice for Sakura to have another friend, Fai thought. It was nice how she was excited to see him again. That, he was certain of. He had barely any idea what he thought of all that came with it, though. Only the jars of calendula and chamomile salves he had made two days ago that he had the vague wish to give away to a person who would undoubtedly need it again.

There was a rap on the door. Both he and Sakura perked up. “Coming!” she chirped, rushing over to the door. Fai readied himself - slight smile, relaxed posture, leg stuck out, in control.

Only to find a much shorter brunet than expected on his porch.

“We're here to see Mr. Flowright?” came a soft, bell-like voice.

“Fai! Is this your apprentice?” said a louder voice. “She is _too cute_!”

Fai stood, assuming the air of the benevolent resident witch. Go time. “Subaru, Hokuto - come on in.”

The twins shuffled inside, examining the interior of his house; both were drenched in sweat, although they wore it gracefully. After removing their hats, they sat down on the couch at Fai's gesture, huddling close together.

Fai had been known by Fairhaven’s selkies ever since he became Yuuko’s apprentice. He wasn’t in constant contact with them - his domain was the city, not the sea -  but he was familiar with its members. Subaru and Hokuto were a memorable pair, and he had met them a few times over the course of the last ten years - first as children, then as preteens, and now in young adulthood.

“So,” Fai said genially, seating himself in the armchair. “What brings you two out of the water and onto my porch?”

Subaru looked to Hokuto, who nodded. He took a deep breath, then said, “My pelt has been stolen, and I don't know by whom. The pod elders say that I should ask for your help.”

From the kitchen, Fai heard Sakura gasp. He kept his expression steady and reassuring. “That certainly is a problem! But you've come to the right place. I’m sure we’ll figure everything out - you’ll be back in the water in no time.”

Usually, Fairhaven’s local selkie pod took care of their own business - they spent most of their time in the water and as animals, so they weren’t quite under the resident witch’s jurisdiction. But if they requested his help - well, who was Fai to refuse? Beyond potions and charms, beyond commissions and requests, that was the most important point to him - to help the people of his city.

Subaru nodded, looking a bit reassured, but still clutching to Hokuto’s sleeve. “We’re worried, because we’re really not built for this heat,” he said. “We’re made for cold waters. I dehydrate quickly, and my skin burns very easily.” He held up his arm - it was pink and raw.

“And the pod is gonna migrate soon!” Hokuto burst in. “Subaru can’t swim like this!”

“Migrate?” Fai asked, taken aback. “But it’s not the right time of year…?”

Subaru bit his lip. “With the sunshine… it’s just not as easy to live around Fairhaven anymore. It’s our home, but it’s not exactly hospitable to selkies anymore. This is sea lion weather. I don’t fault them for wanting to leave, although I do love the town and people here.”

Fai processed this, stunned. The Fairhaven selkie pod, leaving… they had been here as long as the town had. A significant portion of the population had a bit of selkie blood in them from intermarriage, although it had lessened in recent years as the pod made orders to it more difficult for people to steal pelts… and now even that was breaking down.

It felt like everything was falling apart under his feet, faster every day.

“And if Subaru doesn’t get his pelt back soon, they said they’re gonna leave him behind!” Hokuto said indignantly, throwing an arm around her brother. “And I’m not leaving without him.”

“Hokuto…” Subaru began. “You need to stay with the pod - ”

“No!” Hokuto replied. “They’re my clan, but you’re my _brother._ And anyway, Fai’s gonna fix this. I know he will. Right?”

Fai nodded, smile affixed, stomach churning. “Right.”

They told him all that they knew. The last time Subaru had had it was Monday night; he and Hokuto had gone ashore to see a movie in the waterfront area, some superhero flick. They had sat in the middle seats. (Hokuto thought it was fun to watch but boring to think about.) Afterwards, they had gone out to dinner - at “The Granny’s Bonnet,” Subaru recalled, "A friend of ours recommended it." He thought it had been in his bag the whole time, but when they were standing at the beach ready to return, it had been gone. They had retraced their steps throughout the entire city, to the streets to the cafe to the movie theater. They had found no sign of it.

“I can’t even _sense_ it,” Subaru murmured, hugging himself. Hokuto held him closer. “Usually I can just feel it, because it’s a part of me, but I just… there’s nothing. It’s like I’m missing a limb.”

“Don’t worry,” came Sakura’s voice. She walked over and set two cups of lemonade down on the table, then sat on the arm of Fai’s chair. “Fai will do all he can to help you. That’s what he’s here for! He’s the best there is.”

Half of Fai accepted the compliment gratefully. The other half wanted to bolt.

Everyone had too much faith in him. He wasn’t Yuuko. He was himself, and even with a bare back he was a risk.

There was a rap on the doorframe. Sakura bolted upright.

“Sakura? Mr. Flowright?”

And there was the puppy pair, right on time. Thank Orion he was occupied. “Come on in!” he called. “I’m with some guests right now, but you can help Sakura out with her potion, if you’d like?”

She squeaked. “Oh! Right!” She ran over to the cauldron, stirring frantically.

Syaoran walked in first; there were a number of band-aids up and down his arms and legs and a yellowing bruise on his cheek. He looked tired, but happy. He bowed and greeted Fai and the selkies (Subaru greeted him just as formally; Hokuto laughed and pronounced him _adorable!_ ) and then went over to Sakura, who put him to work dicing lilac stems.

Kurogane followed his apprentice a bit slower. He was just as Fai had remembered - too tall, too broad, too observant. Today he was wearing a sleeveless shirt, and Fai’s eyes couldn’t help but catch on his biceps, glistening with sweat (pull it together, Flowright). He sat down at the dining room table, accepting with a few grumbles the roots Sakura gave him to peel.

Fai turned his attention determinedly back to the twins, putting on his best “capable leader” persona, because he knew that Kurogane would be watching for any kind of weakness. “I can perform a rudimentary tracking spell on your pelt to get us started. I just need a lock of your hair, Subaru. Its metaphysical similarity to your pelt will provide guidance for the spell.”

Sakura handed the selkie a pair of kitchen scissors, and Hokuto lopped off about an inch of hair. Fai fetched some dried marigold from the potion pantry, then cleared the coffee table in the living room of the books and knick knacks covering it. Chalk lines and symbols were drawn precisely on its surface, and the marigolds were placed on certain points within the sigil. Lastly, the hair was placed in the middle of the diagram, right where all the shapes converged.

Fai could feel Kurogane watching him keenly, and mentally thanked Yuuko again for all the hours she had him practice drawing straight lines in freehand. It would have been humiliating for him to have to redraw something.

He held his hand over the center. “Subaru, if you could place your hand over mine…?”

Subaru did as asked. Fai breathed in, out. Then the lock of hair burst into flames as he charged the spell.

He felt his mind and magic rush up in the plane above Fairhaven - he could feel everything, every building, road, and person, however distantly. He focused himself on the lock of hair and swept for any matches.

There were the usually faint sparkles of skin, footprints, stray hairs, and emotion echoes - normal things that everyone left behind. But there was nothing as bright as the pelt should be. With this sort of spell, it should have stuck out like a star… unless…

Fai let himself drift down from his trance and put his awareness back into his living room, the lingering effects making him cognizant of each person in the house. Subaru was staring at him in slight wonder, while Hokuto was watching with bright eyes and a grin. Mokona was chasing a dragonfly in the backyard. Sakura and Syaoran had paused in their tasks to watch. Kurogane was now standing behind him. (Probably ready to catch him if he passed out, the bastard.) 

“I don’t sense any sign of your pelt,” Fai said gently. The twins visibly deflated. “But I have an idea of what might have happened. You’re still alive, so the pelt is still intact - the most likely scenario is that whoever stole your pelt is magically concealing its presence. If that’s the case, the scrying spell I just performed wouldn’t be able to sense it, nor would any fortuneteller.”

Subaru’s face crumpled in dismay. “But… who would do that?”

“I’m not sure,” Fai said, patting Subaru’s hand. “My first guess would be a collector of some kind, or someone who wants to use it in a ritual.” He didn’t include that no decent practitioner would utilize a selkie pelt; that was in the realm of darker magic. Foul magic that gains its power from stakes taken selfishly, given unwillingly. Unbalanced deals.

“Someone who has a grudge,” muttered Kurogane. The twins looked up at him in surprise - Fai had to agree that for such a huge man, Kurogane blended in easily.

“Who would have a grudge against my darling baby brother?!” Hokuto exclaimed, squeezing Subaru around the waist and ignoring his little embarrassed groans of _Hokuto, please.._. “He’s the kindest person on the _planet!_ He wouldn’t hurt a _fly!_ Well, maybe a flying fish, but that’s not the point!”

“It might not have been something you’d consider harmful.”

Fai was on the verge of telling Kurogane to butt out and let him do his job, but he remembered the careful consideration had given his input the night of the gulon hunt, and how mindful he had been with his bandages after Fai had tended to him each morning. So instead he just nodded and said calmly, “It’s still a possibility that we have to consider. All our actions have impacts, regardless of whether we know of it at first.”

At his words Hokuto backed off, while Subaru nodded seriously. “No matter what the cause, I hope we can find whoever did it and convince them to give it back.”

Fai flashed him a warm smile. “I hope we do too. In fact, I’m fairly certain that you giving me this case so I can deal with someone potentially dangerous - so as to fulfill my duty - is enough to make an equal exchange.”

Subaru flushed. “I don’t know about that, but if you say so…”

“Don’t worry, Subaru!” Hokuto said cheerily. “We have the resident witch of Fairhaven on our side! We’ll be fine!”

They would be. They _would_ be. This is what he is for - helping his people. “I promise, by my station and my heart, I’ll do my best to help you,” Fai assured them, giving Subaru a half hug, which he shyly returned with a small chuckle. “The first step is gathering information - I’ll be going around and talking to some of the major magical community leaders and experts in the area to see if anything or anyone odd came through. You two are more than welcome to come along, if you’d like. I have some umbrellas you can use to stay cool; moon knows they haven’t gotten enough use lately.”

Subaru and Hokuto nodded in unison. Fai turned to the kitchen. “Sakura! Are you in a place to pause?”

“Oh! Uh, well, actually...” Sakura said, fiddling with a peeler. “Me and Syaoran are making pretty good progress here, and um, we can get a start into all the other commissions too, and storing some of the new ingredients? It’s just, it’ll be nice to hang out with him again, and he says he’s interested in potioneering…?”

Aha. Well, there was no _real_ need to bring her along if she wanted to stumble forward in teenage relationships, of whatever sort this path would be. Fai made a mental note to discuss how this all worked with her later that evening when it was just the two of them - he had faith in Syaoran’s chivalry, but just to be safe… “Alright, you crazy kids. Have fun - I’ll make a list of what I’d like you to take care of,” he smiled.

“I’ll come. We can use my car.”

Of course - his self-appointed guard dog. “Are you sure you wouldn’t want to stick around and make sure Syaoran doesn’t fall into a scary witch’s cauldron, Mister Amamiya?” Fai teased, maybe a bit too meanly. He just wasn’t sure if he wanted Kurogane hovering at his side, sturdy, stabilizing and destabilizing him all at once, while he took care of one of his most important duties.

“Amamiya - wait, you’re _Kurogane Amamiya?_ The hunter?” Hokuto asked.

Kurogane levied an eyebrow, leaning against Fai’s chair. “That’s me.”

“Ohmigod! I’ve _heard_ of you! You’re the one who helped the Almira pod out with that lusca last summer!” She hopped up and down in her seat. “That’s _so cool_.” 

“Every pod 200 miles to the north and south knows what you did,” Subaru said demurely, looking up at Kurogane with his big doe eyes. “Thank you so much for what you’ve done for our brethren.”

Kurogane shrugged, and Fai was able to notice his _bashfulness_. It was surprising to see embarrassment in the man, and Fai found himself torn between amusement and irritation at the cause being Subaru’s cow eyes. “It’s my job,” he grunted, pushing off from the chair. “Let’s go. We’re wasting daylight.”

“Daylight’s not exactly in short supply around here, booboo-bear,” Fai cooed, deftly snatching his hat and ducking from Kurogane’s swat in one move. Too much fun.

As they got into Kurogane’s car, Hokuto caught his eye and pointedly giggled. Fai laughed back, not really knowing what he was laughing at. Hopefully Kurogane and not himself.

-

From the passenger seat of Kurogane’s car, Fai guided the group to their first stop: the Fairhaven Sovereign Bank, which was patroned by both non-magical and magical residents of the surrounding area alike - though only the latter could visit the Interior August Offices. The Bank was owned and operated by the family of a long-defunct royal line, and guarded by an age-old dragon. It was an ancient pact between princess and abductor, and a profitable one. The partnership had moved from their homeland to Fairhaven soon after it was founded.

The Interior August Offices were concealed from the main floor by two polished alder doors, and primarily used for exchanging gold and silver (as was traditional), specialized bartering, and high security vaults for sensitive goods. Most people would be sent away for asking after the contents of the venerable vaults, due to the bank’s strict guidelines for private ownership. Most people were not resident witch.

At Fai’s request, a bank official in a snazzy suit (most likely distantly related to some foreign royal family) let the group into the way back, which was downright chilly in the climate control. Fai felt goosebumps rise all over him, and could see Kurogane barely restraining a shiver - such were the side effects of summery clothing. The selkies, who were built for cold environments, looked much more comfortable.

They went down, down, down in an obsidian elevator, then stepped into a subterranean cavern filled with gold, artifacts, and gemstones. Curled around the center of the hoard was the dragon.

It was the fourth time Fai had had an audience with the old Fairhaven dragon as resident witch; he had stood at Yuuko’s side for many more. He bowed low, and the dragon did the same. Kurogane and the twins made no move to pay respect in the same way (the twins out of ignorance, Kurogane most likely from obstinance), and the dragon did not acknowledge them in turn. Debts of respect. 

In his learned tongue, he asked about the pelt. The dragon hummed, most likely fantasizing about the rarity and taboo obtainment of the item. It answered his question - no, the pelt had not been brought into the bank. The dragon had not counted it in its hoard. It was not on its grounds.

Fai did not bring up the drought. There was no need, as he had come with news and requests for information last week. The dragon had curled tighter around its treasures, each breath billowing heat, and spoken.

_"Deep in the underground caverns, your mortal climates do not matter to one such as me. But if you lessen my hoard by not doing your duty, one of herbs and stones, there will be one more to reckon with."_

The warning echoed in his mind as he thanked the dragon for seeing him about the pelt, and the dragon thanked him in return for his service.

Standing solemn in the elevator, Subaru and Hokuto whispered to each other in the rough selkie language. Kurogane muttered to him, “You let that thing live underneath you?”

Fai shrugged. “Yes, it’s a fixture of the city and a valued resident. And I would advise you to watch your tongue, sugarlips - we’re still in its domain.”

Kurogane glared at him for the nickname, but spoke no further.

When they reached the safety of outside the doors, Fai turned to the group. “Sorry, Subaru - no dice! But that was just our first stop, so don’t worry.”

Subaru nodded seriously, flashing him an earnest smile as he opened his parasol. “It’s fine, Mr. Flowright. Was that the learned tongue?”

“Righto!” Fai said, leading them towards the parking lot. “Do you know it?”

Subaru shook his head. “It fell out of use in our pod a couple of generations ago. I’ve always really wanted to learn it though; I have a friend who's a practitioner and I think it's incredibly intriguing.”

“I could teach you a few phrases?” Fai said, adjusting Subaru’s hat  so it sat straight on his head. “I’m always happy to distribute resources.”

Subaru was about to reply when Kurogane pushed between the two of them, unlocking his car. “You’re in the way,” he grumbled, yanking open the car door and flopping onto his seat.

Fai pouted. “Ahhhh, you big meanie-weenie! You’re supposed to say ‘excuse me!’ Where are your manners?”

“Don’t call me that. Get in or I’ll leave without you,” Kurogane replied brusquely, closing the door in Fai’s face and starting up the car. Fai pouted and went around to the passenger side - just when he was thinking Kurogane was learning good behavior...

The next stop was the Doumeki apothecary for lunch, advice, and a long-shot back-up check. Immediately upon entering, Doumeki and Kurogane engaged in the foremost mutual glaring contest of the century, and it took Watanuki shoving a plate of sandwiches between them for them to break. The trio hadn’t heard anything pertaining to their search - no one had come in trying to pawn it, and after some short phone calls, neither had any other magic retailers. But there were some snacks that Hokuto exclaimed about endlessly, and Himawari showed the twins around the floor, describing the contents of every jar and basket that caught their eye. And to the man’s despair and frustration, the apothecary Mokona resembled his sister by taking great delight in harassing Kurogane.

Leaving the others in the main shop, Fai and Watanuki ventured back to Yuuko’s old store house and cast a joint searching spell for the pelt. The numerous, seemingly endless aisles covered in surrendered knick knacks and artifacts disappeared into the distance in a dusty haze; Fai knew the measure of the perimeter of the store house, but not the area. With the amount of security spells Yuuko had piled onto it over the decades she had been its master, it was nigh impossible for anyone other than her remaining apprentices to have gained entrance to it, but it _was_ one of the most concealed spaces in the city - no harm in trying. Still, nothing of relevance turned up, and Watanuki professed no idea of where the pelt could be - no one had come into the apothecary asking for suspicious ingredients, either.

Before leaving the room, Watanuki stuck a brilliant red feather in the base of Fai’s witch hat. “What’s this?” Fai asked bemusedly, plucking it down and turning it over in his hands carefully. It was sturdy, warm, and seemed to glow with its own inner radiance.

“I found a few of these in an old photo album,” Watanuki said. “Mokona says it’s part of Yuuko’s collection of phoenix feathers - it doesn’t surprise me that she would be able to get her hands on some of these,” he added at Fai’s shocked look.

“Never mind obtaining its plumage,” Fai murmured, holding the feather with increased reverence. This changed things, and the gears in Fai’s mind turned as this new piece of information was added to his speculations. “Actually _seeing_ a phoenix is just…”

“Something only she could do,” Watanuki finished. “I know, I nearly fainted when Mokona told me what it was. I don’t know if there are any more, but judging by their location, I guess she wanted us each to have one. Our inheritances just keep turning up new gifts; every time I try to sift through the storehouse I find something totally unexpected.”

Oh, Yuuko. Watanuki had never been told about the tattoo, but regardless, Fai had a feeling Yuuko was trying to heal his back one more time from beyond the veil . “Here’s where I say something sappy about how she’s telling us that she’ll live on in our hearts and our actions, or something like that,” Fai said softly, thinking of the way Yuuko had always seemed to know everything - from who had left a mess in the kitchen, to what the weather would be like the next day, to the solution to every problem that was brought before her.

“It’s _you_ ,” Watanuki said. His face shone with the faith he had had in Fai ever since he was thirteen and Fai had sat awake with him in his new bedroom after a nightmare. Still the same boy he had been after all these years, looking to Fai as if he were infallible. As if he were capable. “Her legacy lives on through _you_.”

Fai could only hope. Oh, sun and stars. His shoulders felt both strong and weak.

“Thank you,” he replied, holding all of his terror and despair beneath his tongue. “I appreciate your belief in me so much, Kimihiro. And _thank you_ for the feather, I’ll take very good care of it! But! I gotta get going. Thanks for your help!”

Watanuki smiled blithely and patted him on the arm. “Best of luck today. And bring Sakura by next time, I still haven’t met her! I want to put her to work in the storehouse.”

After that, they stopped by the undead neighborhood and spoke with Kanoe, the head of the local vampire community, in her opulent underground rooms. She had been elected to her position before Fai had been born; even though she now reported to him, she still looked down her nose at him as if he were a child - or a bug. Fai had never been… _close_ with Kanoe, but they were able to keep up a delightful fake friendship.

In the middle of introductions, Kanoe rose from her fur-covered seat and purred, “Now, who’s _this?_ ” into Kurogane’s neck. The man looked visibly uncomfortable and repulsed - whether by the contact, the vampirism, or both, Fai didn’t know. But he _did_ know that he needed to separate the two before Kurogane did something _really really politically unfortunate_.

“This is Kurogane Amamiya,” he said hurriedly, grabbing Kurogane’s shoulder and moving him away from Kanoe’s grip.

“The hunter?”

“Yes, and he’s here as _my guest_ ,” Fai said firmly.

She had smirked at this, but withdrew. Fai gave her a sparkling smile in return then got down to business, Kurogane bristling at his side.

Kanoe had heard nothing among her people about the pelt, but promised to ask around. She knew much about concealment and prolonging magics, which is why Fai had come to her in the first place - but even with her age she could not think of anything involving selkie skin. Subaru and Hokuto frowned at his side, and he felt awful.

“Oh, and Fai…” she said right before they left. “I told you this when we spoke last week, but the sun exposure deaths are up to fifteen. Hopefully, the situation will be remedied soon. Correct?”

“Correct,” he replied with his best fake smile, despairing at more lives lost on his account. “We’re certain a solution will be found soon.” A lie.

Kurogane caught his eye as they climbed the stairs out. Fai hardened his smile, kept it on his face. _No problem here. In control. Don’t worry about me._ Everything he didn’t feel.

“You feeling okay, witch?” Kurogane muttered. Damn him.

“Peachy keen!” Posture. Movement. Smile. Nothing to indicate he was about to pass out, since he _wasn't,_ since he's on the job.

(His legs felt wobbly and his head swam, but he pushed it aside. It must be the oncoming fear. It would leave him soon.)

Kurogane’s eyes bored into him. Then he nodded once, and rumbled, “... alright.”

On the walk to the library a few blocks away, Subaru almost collapsed from the afternoon heat - the effects of not having his pelt nearby were clearly setting in. At Hokuto’s urging, Kurogane heaved him onto his back despite Subaru’s profuse apologies and comments of “No, I’ll be fine, there’s really no need, I just need to sit for awhile...”

“No time. Pretty sure the library closes at 5,” he grunted, and Subaru had settled into his grip with a red face.

And Fai had to walk all the way to the library ignoring the spectacle and Kurogane’s huge hands on Subaru’s legs. He kept his eyes straight forward, deliberately chatting only with Hokuto. If Kurogane wanted to carry half-seal twinks around in public, well, he could do that. None of Fai’s business.

Fai led the group straight to the help desk at the center of the expansive library, Kurogane finally setting Subaru down once in the air conditioning to Subaru’s flood of thank yous. (It had been a nice thing to do for a relative stranger. Admirable, in fact. Fai hated that he was as worked up about it as he was. He thought about waking up in Kurogane’s car.) Saiga was there as ever, lollipop in mouth, feet up on the counter, and lazily tapping away at a computer. He looked up when Fai appeared in front of him.

“Well hey there, Fai,” he drawled, sitting back in his chair. “What brings you and this motley crew to my help desk this lovely, er, winter’s day?”

“Oh, not much,” Fai replied, leaning forward, shoulders untensing somewhat. He quite liked Saiga - one wouldn't expect it, considering the man’s ‘circumstances’ - but he was always very pleasant and genial to him whenever their paths crossed. Saiga had a natural casualness to him that made him easy to talk to. “Not that I don't adore chatting with you -”

“You flatter me!”

“ - but I’m here to see Kakei today. You _could_ help me, I suppose, but Kakei is a bit lower risk in that regard.”

Saiga fluidly stood, cracking his knuckles. “Alright, I'll take you on back - although I gotta disagree with you calling Kakei _lower risk_ than _anybody_.”

“You shouldn't talk about him like that,” Fai joked. He could feel Kurogane glaring at him. “He could kick you out on the curb.”

“He _wouldn't,_ ” Saiga replied. “Waste of an investment.”

“How do you two know each other,” Kurogane muttered to Fai as were led down the hallway to the library offices, the selkies up with Saiga sharing news of the pod.

“I've been friends with Saiga since he arrived in town! You can trust him as far as you can throw him, but no further.”

Kurogane grunted, narrowing his eyes at Saiga’s back. “Why's he wearing sunglasses inside? It's suspicious. And weird.” 

“It’s part of my _image_ , dude,” Saiga called back to them. Kurogane stuck his hands in his pockets and grumbled. Fai couldn't help but giggle at his reaction, and Kurogane gave him the stink eye.

The back rooms were covered in papers, ancient computers, administrative materials, and of course, from floor to ceiling, _books_. Smudged old chalk lines and circles were evident on certain sections of the floor, and the air seemed stained with the smell of brimstone overlaid with the scent of the flowers from myriad vases perched on any clear space. The windows were covered in thick curtains so as to protect the often fragile materials from the harsh sunlight, although that made it quite stuffy; the worn old air conditioning unit hummed loudly in some hidden corner, chugging along the best it could.

Kakei was cradled in mounds of beaten up old tomes and boxes of chalk, copying something down in a weathered notebook. He looked up as the group approached his workspace and gave them a polite smile. Fai liked Kakei just fine - not as approachable as Saiga, certainly, and he always had his fingers in too many pies (Fai could relate). Sometimes Fai found it very odd that Kakei was technically his subordinate. But the man had remained all human throughout his often “experimental” magic, kept a good grip on his library and his projects, and was ultimately benevolent, and was always very polite to Sakura, which meant a lot in Fai’s book.

“Fai,” Kakei said smoothly, not putting down his pen. “It’s wonderful to see you. And selkies from the harbor pod, if I remember correctly? And even Mr. Amamiya - I didn’t expect to see you again so soon, especially not in the company of our resident witch.”

Fai blinked. “You two have met?”

“Yes, the other week he was skulking about the shelves and I introduced myself,” Kakei said, shuffling some papers and standing.

“I was learning the area.”

So what Tomoyo had told him was correct. “Honey-lumpkins! If you wanted a tour, you could have _told_ me!” Fai teased, poking Kurogane’s cheek.

Kurogane, true to form, grabbed Fai’s wrist and pulled it away from his face. “ _What the fuck is a honey-lumpkin_.”

“ _You’re_ a honey-lumpkin!” Laughing, Fai dodged out of the way of Kurogane’s smack, grinning cheekily up at him.

Kakei smiled. “Well, I have to say congratulations are in order, Fai. You two seem very happy.”

Fai felt his face heat, and dearly hoped it didn’t show. “Hahaha, thanks Kakei, but you’re a little off the mark!” Don’t look at Kurogane. Don’t look at Kurogane. Don’t move or show any reaction. “Like this big ol’ brute could bag someone like _me_.” 

“Shut _up_!” Kurogane growled, ears a bit red. A guy like Kurogane being so bashful was unbearably endearing. And hilarious.

“Don’t bark at me just because you’re jealous!” Fai teased, dancing behind the giggling selkie twins. “You’re a fine hunk of man meat now, I’ll admit, but maybe one day - just _maybe_ \- your beef will be enough to match my natural _charm_ and _beauty_."

“What the hell kind of ‘charm’ do _you_ have?!” Kurogane snarled.

“Not that this isn’t amusing, boys,” Kakei said, “But I am obligated to remind you that this is still library grounds.”

“Ahhh, sorry, sorry,” Fai said, still behind the selkies. “I’ll get down to business.”

He explained the problem, and Kakei hummed, consulted a catalog, then went to a dark wood cabinet in the corner and pulled out a musty thick volume. It was plopped down on a table, and the group circled around it. Kurogane stood silent at Fai’s shoulder.

“What’s this?” Subaru asked, looking at the dirty binding in worry.

“It’s a very old apothecary catalogue. It operated on the east coast a century or two before it was shut down by the local resident witch for dark dealings; I bought this in a rare book auction a few years back.” Kakei paged to about two thirds of the way through, and then scanned through the dense scribbles. “Here - this is the only mention of selkie pelts in my collection that I can think of - for sale, fully intact, at an exorbitant price. They aren’t used a lot in magic since they’re so difficult to obtain, and are usually kept as trophies above all else. That’s most likely what’s happened to yours, Subaru.”

“I see,” Subaru murmured, hugging himself. Hokuto slung an arm across his shoulders.

“But besides trophies?” she asked. “What would they be used for?”

Kakei considered this. “The book doesn’t say, but since it’s such an intensely personal item to be traded between two people... most likely very dark things.”

“If I had to make a guess, I would say a very psychological magic. Transformative - to something more human?” Fai mused. “Selkie pelts carry a lot of magical weight, and there isn’t a lot of research into them.”

“... oh.” Subaru drooped, a shadow falling over his young face.

Hokuto hugged him tighter. “But I’m sure no one’s doing that! There’s probably just a collector somewhere. We’ll get it back, Subaru, and it’ll all work out fine!” she announced.

“Right,” Fai said. “It really is most likely a trophy - there aren’t very many rituals that one could find that demand a selkie pelt.”

“And that was only the first resource I could think of. I’ll continue looking, and I’ll have Saiga call you if I find anything else,” Kakei finished, replacing the apothecary listing and pulling a book from the middle of a stack, flipping through it, already getting absorbed in his work again.

“I’m not here to be your secretary, _honey lumpkin_ ,” Saiga countered.

“Actually, that was exactly my intention in summoning you.”

“Summon?” Subaru asked. Oh stars above, this was Fai’s _favorite part_.

“Yeah, he summoned me like, two years ago, for what I thought were nefarious purposes - like, I usually get called for help with dark arts and being a bodyguard. Normal demon summoner shit. But this guy’s only kept me around to do chores and put out ,” Saiga said casually. “Although I keep telling him that there are _way_ cooler uses for the fleet of demons he keeps on call, especially when a prince of Hell is a permanent resident. Some summoners would give up a _firstborn_ to have me around!” Humming placatingly, Kakei leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, then turned back to his books.

Quickly, Fai looked to Kurogane, anticipating shock and something to poke fun at, only to find… absolutely nothing but boredom.

“Aww, I thought you’d be surprised!” Fai needled. “I was saving up the whole ‘Saiga-is-a-summoned-demon’ thing for _maximum surprise_.”

“I’m not an _idiot_ ,” Kurogane barked. “It was obvious. I have a _nose_. He reeks of sulfur.”

“I thought I was getting rid of that,” Saiga commented, sniffing at his armpits. 

“It’s barely noticeable, dear,” Kakei said blandly, scanning through an index. “You smell as fresh as spring daisies, or a mountain breeze.”

“You really can’t smell it, though!” Hokuto chirped, sniffing Saiga’s shoulder. “You have a _great_ nose, Kuro.”

“You run into a lot of idiots summoning demons they can’t handle in my line of work,” Kurogane said. “But the librarian’s still alive, and the witch brought you two here, so I’m not just gonna pull out the fuckin’ salt for no immediate reason.”

“I’m glad you trust me so much!” Fai replied, nudging Kurogane with his elbow. Kurogane elbowed him back. Hokuto giggled, but Fai could see Subaru wilting from both exhaustion and worry. Catching Kakei’s eye, he nodded slightly, then said, “It was very nice talking with you, Kakei, but it’s getting late and I’ll let you start closing up shop.”

“Right,” Kakei said “Good luck with your search, all of you.” Fai hung back as Saiga led the others out, herding them with conversation. Kurogane caught his eye with a questioning look, and Fai nodded and smiled - _go on, I’ll be out in a moment_. Kurogane considered him for a moment, then held up his open hand - _you get five minutes_. Fai winked, Kurogane huffed, and then the room was empty but for him and Kakei. The atmosphere immediately sobered.

“I did the research you asked of me,” Kakei said, pulling open a drawer and carefully removing a stack of slim volumes. “These are the climate patterns in the area since Fairhaven was settled. As expected, we’ve had droughts in the area before - but your information about it being related to _sunshine_ rather than rain and snowfall seem to be correct when the data is applied.” He handed Fai sheets of paper with neat tables of data printed on them; Fai folded them and tucked them in his bag.

“We were in the middle of a wet spell before all this happened,” Fai commented. “My guess is that’s the only reason things aren’t as bad as they could be. We're lucky that there haven't been any wildfires, what with how dry it's been, but it's a real threat. I’ve spoken with some of the Folk, and half of them say that they’ll leave after the solstice if this isn’t resolved. The other half say they would stay longer, but wouldn’t rule out finding new grounds if it got to a certain point - if the sunshine started creeping into night, which is becoming a definite possibility. They all agreed on the solstice being some sort of deadline, however, but for what they either weren’t sure or wouldn’t say.”

“Well, they’re Folk. Obtuse and secretive is their way; I’m amazed you got that much out of them.” Kakei sat down in his chair again, sighing. “You said last week that you think it’s a legendary creature.”

“Mhm.” Fai took the chair opposite him. “Kurogane’s apprentice - Syaoran - lovely boy - showed me some of his research, and he’s narrowed it down to either a kulshedra or a phoenix.”

Kakei sat up straighter, adjusting his glasses. “You realize those are exceedingly rare, from what I remember.”

“I do, but this situation is exceedingly rare as well.” Fai leaned back, recalling bestiaries. “A bolla could have slept in our mountains for twelve years without us taking any notice, and just this year it’s woken up. Then it wakes in its full kulshedra form, causes drought - our deadline to either kill it or appease it is the solstice. That’s an avenue that makes sense with everything we know. The fault with this is that their usual method is the drying of wells, not harsh sunlight. It may just be an unusual specimen, but that brings me to the phoenix.

“Phoenixes are generally known as benevolent creatures, but they’re so shrouded in myths and cults that true, unbiased accounts of their behavior are few and far between. Is it a bird? A woman? A non-homicidal harpy? Depends who you ask. But they’re powerful creatures of fire, which is heat and _light_ … the reason they’re so revered is due to their incredible power. Enough power to impact an entire town. Considering the drought started in the spring, the season of growing and rebirth, I wouldn’t say it’s far-fetched.

“And Fairhaven has a… certain history with phoenixes.” Fai struggled to maintain his usual smile; Kakei didn’t need to know the details of that. His back itched. Against his will, his mind brought up images of once-loved hands, blood, ink. Fire. “What’s more - look what Watanuki gave me this morning.” 

When he pulled the phoenix feather from his bag, Kakei’s jaw actually dropped. Surprise was an odd expression on him. “That’s…"

“Yep. A feather. Watanuki says he has one as well; they seem to be part of our inheritance.” Fai tucked away the feather, Kakei’s eyes trailing after it in awe. “I wonder if they are also a warning - the phoenix theory was a reach, but I believe Yuuko was trying to alert me to the threat.”

“... I see,” Kakei said, a bit shell-shocked. “I… don’t really know what to say, honestly.”

“I understand.”

“I’ll look through my collection for information on kulshedra and phoenixes in this region - along with the pelt, of course,” Kakei said, scribbling it down on a sticky note. “Thank you so much, Fai. This is incredibly useful.”

“It’s only talk,” Fai muttered, eyes gazing at the light streaming in through the window. That damn light. “I should be doing more.”

Kakei’s brow furrowed. “Fai - “

“Oi.” Both of them turned to the door - there was Kurogane. Fai glanced at his watch. The man was right on time. “Let’s go. The seals are hungry.”

“Alright, alright!” Fai said, shooing him. “Give me a moment to collect my things, snugglebug, I’ll be right out.”

“What the fuck is a ‘snuggle bug,’” Kurogane groused. “No such thing as a _snuggly bug_.”

Fai couldn’t help but genuinely laugh at that - of course Kurogane took offense to _complimenting bugs_. Kurogane looked at him with an odd expression, then swiveled and left. Fai hadn’t expected such an easy exit; he had imagined the usual chase after some stupid nickname. Ah well.

“About Kurogane Amamiya…” Kakei began as he and Fai walked toward the entrance.

A corner of Fai’s mouth turned up against his will. “The big growly puppy that’s taken to prowling around our fair city.”

“He’s a good man, Fai. You should keep him around.”

Fai had himself chuckle lightly, ignoring the flutter in his stomach. “Says the man practically married to a prince of hell.”

“What can I say,” Kakei said, smiling cryptically. “I have good taste.”

-

And so the day concluded with no concrete leads - Hokuto had wanted to continue into the night, but both Fai and Kurogane agreed that with the current forest situation, it was too dangerous to be out after dark, especially for Subaru. The group ate a thrown-together stew on Fai’s back porch, the sun slipping beneath the horizon and bathing everything in vivid orange light. It would have been a beautiful summer evening but for the fact that it was December.

Syaoran eagerly talked with Hokuto and Subaru about selkie customs and regional differences and they responded with enthusiasm - although Subaru was obviously tired and anxious, and by the end of the night was drooping onto Hokuto’s shoulder.

Fai taught Sakura some simple firework charms, which she took to with ease. Soon, the backyard was filled with cartwheeling colored sparks and Sakura’s delighted laughter. Her awe from seeing fireworks for the first time during summer hadn’t worn off, it seemed. She was so good and kind despite everything, and Fai knew she would be powerful in the best ways.

All throughout the meal, Mokona pestered Kurogane for chunks of beef from his bowl. Even though Kurogane loudly denied her and pushed her away from him, telling her to _get off your lazy ass and catch a mouse or something_ , Fai glimpsed him slipping her a morsel or two, and by the end of the night she had curled up in his lap. Fai wanted to tease him about what a softie he was, but that would most likely make Kurogane shove Mokona off, and Fai’s chest felt too tight to properly speak. So instead he just gathered up everyone’s dishes and fled the scene to wash them, dodging Kurogane’s questioning look. As ever.

Standing at the sink, he thought back to the man he thought he had met in a bar downtown a few weeks ago, and wondered at how first impressions could change. He thought about strong arms, and hidden kindnesses, and a noble heart despite a rocky exterior - a man who stands securely on his own two feet. He thought about a bookish little werewolf, trailing after him with wide admiring eyes. He thought about the wound on Kurogane’s arm. He thought about waking up in Kurogane’s car.

He was surrounded by the most wonderful people in the world.

Sakura came in, holding a slumbering Mokona in her arms. She told him quietly, “Hokuto says she’s going back to the pod to report. But, um, Subaru…”

Fai smiled. “Tell Subaru he can bunk here for the night, and make sure to insist when he tries to politely decline. Could you make up the couch for him, sweet pea?”

“Will do!” Sakura said, walking back out carefully so as to not disturb the cat. Fai couldn’t help but smile - he was overly sentimental tonight, it seemed.

He looked out the kitchen window, hands getting pruny from the water. The moon was hanging half full and brilliant over his city. He made a mental note to check some of the potions fermenting in the cellar, and to make Sakura the macaroni bake again - she had eaten that so quickly last week and asked for seconds. He should get chocolate milk the next time they got groceries as well...

“Hey.” Kurogane stuck his head in the door. “We’re heading out.”

Fai nearly dropped the plate he was holding. He turned to face Kurogane, peppy smile affixed. “Too bad! But I suppose it’s bed time for growly puppies and Syaorans.”

Kurogane scowled. “Stop with the dog jokes.”

“But you just make it too easy! Always prowling around like you’re about to bite somebody - “

“Shut up. Listen, I.” Then he stopped, rubbing at his brow and sighing.

Fai felt a sudden spurt of fear - fear of what, he wasn’t sure. Fear of Kurogane saying something that was just too much. “You’re probably pretty tired from all the wandering around we did today! You can tell me in the mor - “

“ _No_. Stop trying to sidestep me,” Kurogane said, walking toward him. Fai pressed himself back to the counter. “You always do that. I just wanted to say that you did a good job today. Or whatever.”

Whatever Fai had expected him to say, it hadn’t been that. “Thank you? But it was only information gathering.”

Kurogane shrugged. “Yeah, and the selkies are a lot less all over the place now. You crossed off possibilities. It was good work.”

Fai’s stomach flipped. Kurogane was too damn close to him. “I… suppose. It really wasn’t much, to be honest.”

“Don’t disregard yourself like that,” Kurogane scowled. “You made use of your resources and did what you could. I’m giving you a damn compliment.”

Fai restrained himself from rolling his eyes. He smiled harder. “You’re very sweet, tough guy, but literally _anyone_ with the title of resident witch could do what I did today. There’s still a lot I need to fix.” The pelt. Sakura’s memory. The drought. “Compliments, though fun, aren’t really deserved!”

“Shut up,” Kurogane said, crossing his arms. “You have a good hold on your city. Everyone we saw today respects you. This is only the first day of the case. So what. You have the skills to help them.”

“You’re an admirable man, mister muscles,” Fai murmured, looking down at the dishrag in his hands. “I don’t understand why you’re telling me all this.” Why was Kurogane bothering to be so kind to him? He was doing simply whatever anyone else would do.

Kurogane exhaled above him. “You’re dropping all your work for this one case. You spend the entire day doing _this_ when there's probably bigger stuff you could focus on. You fed him, let him stay in your home. And for someone who won’t shut up about equivalent exchange or whatever, you gave him such a bullshit price for it.”

“It’s all that I can do. I should be doing more, but I can’t.” _Don’t look up. Don’t see whatever disgusted or pitying look he has on his face. This isn't someone who would respect you_.

There was a pause. Fai could barely breathe - the air felt too thick. Kurogane was too close, he was seeing too much - he would see how useless and empty and cursed Fai was, and Fai didn’t want that, especially from _him_ -

Kurogane began, much too softly for who _he_ was, for who _Fai_ was, “Listen, witch... “

“Well, this was a nice chat! Have a safe drive home, big puppy!” Fai chirped desperately, trying to dodge away from the counter and from Kurogane and from this conversation that was squeezing his heart right out of his chest. But then his foot slipped on some suds and he lost his balance and banged his elbow against the counter and braced himself for impact - and then he felt Kurogane’s hand at the small of his back, and gravity stopped happening so much, and he looked up.

There was a moment where everything seemed suspended. Fai found himself noticing the broad spread of Kurogane’s hand and fingers, and how warm he was, and how easily he supported his weight, and how his face seemed surprised, but not revulsed. How Kurogane’s first instinct was to make sure he didn’t fall.

“Kurogane - oh!” Syaoran’s voice startled both of them upright and apart. Syaoran was bright red in the doorway. “Um! Sorry! I’llbeoutbythecar!!” He dashed away quickly, but the moment had passed. It was a good thing it was dark enough that the pink on Fai’s cheeks shouldn’t be noticeable. Kurogane was just _staring_ at him. Fai’s hands were shaking.

Aquarius above, what an awkward pause.

“I guess you should go out and join him,” Fai said, finally.

“Right,” Kurogane grunted, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Contact me if anything comes up.”

Fai laughed lightly, turning back to the sink and away from whatever on earth had just happened, heart beating out of his chest. “In the middle of the night?”

“Whatever,” Kurogane tsked, moving to the door. And then he paused.

“Is there anything else, Mister Amamiya?” Fai sang, focusing intently on the bowl he was scrubbing.

 “... take care of yourself, witch.”

And Fai had to turn - to try and see what exactly he meant by that, what his face looked like - stars above, he didn’t want to delude himself into thinking it meant something more than it did -

But Kurogane was gone. Outside, there was the sound of car engine starting up.

Fai finished the dishes and set them to dry. He went to his bedroom, changed into his pajamas, and brushed his teeth. He laid down in bed.

He had no idea what to think or do about anything in his life anymore.

(Two weeks.)

He should just sleep.

-

The next morning, Fai was making hash browns and eggs as Sakura spread jam on toast. He was making more than he usually did - he had a houseguest, but he also figured the hunter pair would want some when they arrived in a bit. He had charged the Fount first thing today so they could get straight to work... and also so Kurogane couldn’t _hover._ And he felt fine! _So there_ , he thought petulantly in Kurogane’s general direction _. No need to act so concerned in kitchens. No need to expend your pity on me._

There came rustling from the living room, and soon Subaru trudged in, eyes shadowed and yawning. He sat down at the table and blearily accepted the tea Sakura poured for him.

“Did you sleep well, Subaru?” Sakura inquired. “Not to be rude, but you look pretty tired.”

“I had… very bad dreams,” Subaru mumbled, clutching the mug with both hands. “I've been _having_ very bad dreams. There was a big black bird. And I was coughing up blood.”

Fai filed that away in his memory - could be useful. To Subaru, he smiled and set down a plate of food. “Well, nothing a good breakfast won’t fix! Eat up, Subaru; I’m certain we’ll find the solution soon.”

“Thank you again for your hospitality,” Subaru said, digging into his food. “I really appreciate it. Usually I stay with Seishirou when I go ashore, but I wouldn’t want to intrude on him with such short notice.”

The blood drained from Fai’s face. “Seishirou? Seishirou Sakurazuka?”

Subaru colored a bit. “Y-yes? We met about a year ago, and he hasn’t done anything untowards - he’s really nice.”

Oh. Oh _sun above_.

As the pieces fell together - of course it's Seishirou, who else would go to such extremes - Fai flipped the gas off on the stove and scrambled over to his workbench, grabbing a small glass bauble and a few ingredients - marigold, aloe extract, thistle. He poured a teaspoon of the aloe into the bauble and set to work hastily crushing the marigold petals.

“Fai…? Is there a problem?” Subaru asked, still at his plate _as if his life wasn’t in danger_.

“Sakura, please get me the eucalyptus ink from my study,” Fai ordered, and Sakura dropped her breakfast and ran off. “Subaru, you need to tell me everything you can remember about your dream last night. Your life may depend on it.”

Subaru paled, and stuttered, “Um - well, the big looked like, a black seagull? It was big, I’m sorry, I don’t know many land birds… it had huge holes in its wings. It didn’t have any eyes. Every time I tried to look at its face, I felt really nauseous… it was at night, I think. It was really dark.”

“What about the blood?” Sakura asked urgently, returning with the ink.

“Halfway through I started coughing it up. I felt very cold - colder than any water I’ve ever swam in. I felt its claws dig into my shoulder, and then I woke up.”

Moon and Mars, Fai had absolutely no idea what any of that could mean besides _evil_. But he flashed a quick smile to Subaru as he mixed the marigold and thistle into the aloe and lied, “Thank you, Subaru, that’s very helpful. Now, I need another lock of your hair.”

Sakura fetched Subaru the scissors as Fai got out a tin of dried vetivert; he then bundled the hair in the twigs and stuck it in the bauble. Using the eucalyptus ink, he sketched out a sustaining sigil, and laid it along the rim of the opening. He charged the sigil, let the ashes fall into the bauble, and screwed the cap on.

There - scanning and protection artifact made. Without any real idea of what on earth Seishirou had done _this_ time he couldn’t make a very specific one, but hopefully this would be enough to get the job done - _and_ keep someone safe when they set foot on his property. Oh, by Saturn above, he shouldn’t have neglected checking up on Seishirou just because he couldn’t _stand_ the man.

“Fai? What’s going on?” Subaru asked apprehensively. “Is something wrong with Seishirou?”

Oh stars in the sky. He turned to Subaru, putting on his best comforting face. This wasn't going to be easy. “Listen, Subaru… I know Seishirou comes off as a regular hedgewitch - a lovely garden, a bubbling cauldron, a smile, and an open door. I have no doubt that he’s been as nice to you as you think he has.”

Subaru’s face collapsed. “... Seishirou is the one who took my pelt.”

“I’m afraid that’s the most likely answer,” Fai said softly, and by the soil of the earth, he hated this part of his job. Subaru looked like he was about to cry, except even his tears had left him. He stared down at his hands, face ashen.

Sakura moved over to him, gathering him up in her arms. “It’ll be alright,” she murmured, stroking his hair. “We’ll get your pelt back and sort this out.”

There was a knock on the door, and Fai rushed over. He knew who it was. “We have a huge lead on the pelt. I need to leave now.” Kurogane and Syaoran looked surprised at the abrupt greeting, but settled into their game faces quickly. “Kurogane, Syaoran, Sakura - stay here with Subaru and have him drink plenty of water. Text me when Hokuto arrives.”

“I want to help,” Sakura proclaimed, standing from where she had been bent over Subaru.

Fai bit his lip. He didn’t want to shoot down her hopes, but... “I can’t allow that,” he told her. “It’s too dangerous.”

“But I can do it!” she insisted. “I didn’t help at all yesterday and I feel terrible about it. From what I’ve heard, Seishirou’s a real threat. I won’t let you go in alone.”

Oh, moon above, everyone was watching him. He stood straighter, and hardened his features. “Sakura, I understand that. I really do. But I won’t endanger you like that. Seishirou’s house is a formidable magical net; even years ago, Yuuko didn’t let me go with her on housecalls there until my fourth year of training - and you’ve only just started, with _life_ in general. He keeps all kinds of terrible things in there, and the pelt isn’t the least of it, the _things_ he makes… he’s an intensely violent person at his core, and I don’t want to risk your safety, sweetheart.” He was doing his best to impart to her that he couldn’t risk _her_ , couldn’t risk hurting his apprentice and ward for his own gain. He couldn’t be that person.

“I’ll come too,” Kurogane said, moving to stand beside Sakura. “I have years of experience with dangerous witches and resistance training to most hexes.” Fai remembered how his glamour hadn’t affected him the night of the vila hunt, and considered, for a moment, accepting. Kurogane was always pushing to come along, to stand at his shoulder and help, to push him out of the way and take a blow for someone he barely knew or even  _liked_. He was a noble sort by nature. He had set himself up as the protector of everyone, and would be a good ally to anyone. Fai didn't understand why he kept making a point to stand beside _him_ , of all people, but it was… nice. Very nice.

Still, he wasn’t willing to get anyone involved in something that had happened due to his own neglect. “It’s swell of you to offer, muffin-man, but there’s no need for anyone else to be involved - “

“She said you shouldn’t go in alone. Respect that wish.” Kurogane’s eyes bore down into him, and Fai found he could do nothing but nod. Kurogane looked down at Sakura. “That work for you?”

She hesitated, but acquiesced. “That’s fine. But don’t let him do anything stupid or self-sacrificing - if he comes back half dead, you’ll have me to answer to.”

It was almost laughable, this girl who barely came up to Kurogane’s waist trying to intimidate him - but Sakura had such weight behind her words, such assurance and strength in her voice, that it was natural for Kurogane to incline his head and vow, “I’ll do my best.”

Fai kissed her on the top of her head and murmured, “I promise I’ll stay safe.” She sighed, but clasped his hands in hers and squeezed. He felt his veins come alive with a protective blessing.

“You better come back in one piece,” she told him, and stepped away. “I’ll text you when Hokuto comes, and I’ll also try and find something to help.”

“This might be good practice for your cursebreaking,” Fai noted, scooting around the kitchen, scooping a few items into his bag. Firepowder, his cedar wand, and of course the bauble he assembled earlier... he scooped in his charmed sigil ballpoint as well. Might as well construct a few more wards on the way there...

“Alright, big puppy, let’s get going,” he said, slinging his hat on his head, ignoring Kurogane’s token grumbles of not being a dog. “Subaru!”

The selkie looked up at him, face still lined with pain. “Yes?”

Fai gave him the bravest smile he could muster. “I’ll do all I can to get your pelt back.”

Subaru, though still visibly heartbroken, nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Flowright.”

Fai and Kurogane exited the house and went out to Kurogane’s car. Fai rattled off the area Seishirou’s house was in - “You know where that is, right?” “I haven’t just been sitting on my ass for the past few weeks.” - and stated rifling through the car’s front compartments.

“What in the hell are you doing?” Kurogane barked.

“Looking for loose scraps of paper!” Fai replied, finding a cache of old fast food receipts. “These’ll do. I’m gonna make us some protective sigils - they’ll be a bit slapdash, but anything is better than less. We’re sort of charging in headfirst here, but giving him any more time alone with the pelt worsens the situation exponentially.”

Kurogane eyed him. “Is he that bad?”

Fai exhaled, tying his hair back in a high ponytail then getting back to work. “The first time I visited his house with Yuuko, it was a house call to discuss a business another local witch had brought up. Regular stuff. The second time, it was to exorcise his house - he was keeping incredibly malignant matters in his cellar, and it was contaminating the soil of the entire acre. She made him swear an oath to never pull that kind of shit again, but even with that limitation I would say he’s had a hand in the creation of a good quarter of the dark artifacts in this region. Fairhaven has a reputation for a very secure and upright magical community, but Seishirou has his own reputation for very good dark sorcery - and he’ll take whatever commission interests him.”

Kurogane tsked. “Do you have a plan?”

“A rather slipshod one, but yes.” Fai paused in his sigils to pull out the bauble. “That house is _covered_ in anti-intruder wards - I’ll get us invited in by wanting to talk about how he’s still maintaining his lawn, even in the drought. What an asshole, am I right? Anyway, you’ll be carrying _this_.” He brandished the bauble at Kurogane, who took one hand off the wheel to accept it.

“What is this? A tree ornament?”

“No, you silly-billy, it’s a multi-stage spell artifact. The first use is to keep the carrier safe, as it repels most curses. The other - “

“What about you?” Kurogane interrupted.

Fai paused. “What?”

“There’s only one of these things.” He was looking at the road. His skin glowed in the sunlight. “What's gonna protect you?”

“That’s what I’m making all these sigils for,” Fai replied, flourishing a bit on a final rune and switching to another paper. “Get in the left lane. Anyway, as I was saying before you so _rudely_ interrupted me, cupcake, the other use of the bauble is to take a sort of aura survey of Seishirou’s house, specifically for Subaru’s pelt. Once we’ve gotten past his doorway wards, the bauble should have enough oomph in it to get past the concealing charm on the pelt. It’ll take about five minutes for it to scan the house, but after it’s done its job I can have a pretty good idea of where it is. I suppose it’s a good thing you’re coming along - if _I_ carry the device, its information will take up half of my attention, and I need to keep Seishirou focused on my small talk, which I _know_ isn’t your forte.

“When it suddenly heats up, toss it to me - that will be the proof I need to power down Seishirou’s charms around the pelt, it’s a magic thing. I’ll use my firepowder and you’ll use your brute strength to incapacitate Seishirou long enough for me to fetch it. Since he stole it, he technically can’t do anything to stop us from taking it back. Make the next right.”

Kurogane hmm-ed, turning the wheel. “Sounds good. I’ll try and get him outside of his house so he has less access to his spells and wards.”

“Good thinking, snookums - but even then, watch out for any tricks. Don’t listen to anything he says! He’s a real piece of work.” There - another sigil finished. Kurogane nodded in the corner of his eye.

“Why the hell don’t you kick him out of town?”

Fai grimaced. “I can’t. He owns his property, and we can’t take it from him. Birthright is very powerful, and so is the Sakurazuka line. Take the next left.”

Kurogane did as ordered. “Then can’t you just kill him?”

That _would_ be Kurogane’s line of thinking. “I wish,” Fai grumbled. “But no, he’s found some loopholes in the rules. All the shit he does, he does for _clients_ , which means he technically isn’t _using_ the dark magic for _himself_. Or he hides it well enough that I can’t catch him in the act. And the rules of my position forbid me from killing except in defense of myself or Fairhaven, and even then it's only in the most dire circumstances. Seishirou hasn't reached nearly that far yet, but he toes the line enough to be an entire thornbush in my side.”

“Sounds like a real dickhead.”

Fai chuckled bitterly. “You don’t even know the _half_ of it.”

There was silence as Kurogane drove and Fai scribbled down more protective charms on the backs of receipts - to conceal their intentions, to strengthen them against mental attacks, to guard against physical damage, every one he could think of, anything to keep them safe in that damn house…

“You act like you have a handle on everything,” Kurogane muttered from the driver’s seat.

Fai looked incredulously at him, filled with anger and shock and _fear_. “Is this really the time, big guy?”

Kurogane was looking at him as if he would disappear - as if he wasn’t strong enough to stay awake and alive if Kurogane took his sunforsaken red eyes off of him. “And everyone believes it but you.”

Fai’s insides went cold. He inhaled, hoping it didn’t sound as shuddery as it felt. He kept his nose in his work, his hand moving on autopilot, his smile automatically affixed. “I try my best!” He chirped. Circle. Line. Crescent.

He could _feel_ that Kurogane was about to say something, and his shoulders tensed as if to deflect a blow, and his pen pressed into the paper as if the sigil would ward off whatever cutting remark the man beside him was about to say.

Then Kurogane quietly sighed, and just continued driving.

A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of Seishirou’s house. Fai sorted through all the sigils he had managed to make and pushed about a third of them over to Kurogane. “Just put them wherever you can,” Fai told him, stuffing his share into his pockets, his binder, his shoes. Kurogane muttered something about this being _stupid_ but did as ordered.

They got out of the car together, and gazed at Seishirou’s unassuming little house. It had a clean white coat of paint on it, every shingle in place, everything in order - it looked like it came out of a real estate catalogue, the perfect definition of “mid-range two story house in an urban waterfront area.” Seishirou’s attention to detail in his quest to look like a regular person edged into unsettling, Fai thought to himself. Although everything Seishirou did was unsettling, so that wasn't saying anything new.

He took a step towards the house, but Kurogane grabbed his arm. He turned with a questioning look - was a sigil sticking out somewhere obvious? Was there another bone-crunching criticism Kurogane wanted to levy at him?

Kurogane cleared his throat, and said awkwardly but firmly, “What I was meant was - you’ll do fine in there, witch. And you have me as back up. So don’t worry about it.”

Fai’s breath stopped up in his throat. _Don’t overthink this. He has a duty to protect. You're no one special._ He switched on a grin, and patted Kurogane’s bicep patronizingly. “We can only hope, cuddlebunny!”

Kurogane rolled his eyes but followed him forward, standing just behind his shoulder.

The property was surrounded by tall, perfectly trimmed hedges, parted exactly four feet for a paved walkway to the front porch. Fai took a deep breath as he stepped between them and immediately felt himself enveloped by a thick miasma of magic, so dense that it felt like his lungs and arteries were clogged up with it. Still, he kept his chin high and his back straight - Seishirou had already been alerted to their presence. Any sign of weakness was a risk.

They stepped onto the porch, and Fai couldn’t help but shudder as they moved past another wave of magic. Wormwood and henbane, he _hated_ Seishirou’s aura. He knocked on the door and felt something slither down his spine.

Then a hand lightly touched his shoulder blade, and Fai glanced up at Kurogane in silent question. The man darted his eyes to the door and back to Fai, then nodded.

 _I’ve got your back_.

Fai smiled back, both in response and because he was genuinely touched. He gave Kurogane quick thumbs up as the sound of footsteps neared, and then the door opened.

There the bastard was, in casual-yet-nice clothes, smiling like he had done nothing wrong. And in his mind, he probably hadn’t.

“Fai,” Seishirou said smoothly, his wide shoulders blocking their eyes from seeing much of his house. “What a pleasant surprise.”

Fai fixed on his best ‘trust me, I’m cheerful and nice, and also I could beat you in a fight’ smile and chirped, “Good afternoon, Seishirou! This is my associate Kurogane Amamiya; we're sorry for dropping in at such short notice - but resident business, you know how it is.”

To Fai’s total surprise, Seishirou grinned charmingly, gesturing inside the house. “Come on in, I was just making iced tea. It’s so warm out, isn’t it?”

Shit. This casual admittance trapped them into entering the damn house, and his easygoing air set Fai’s teeth on edge. Still, he smiled back at Seishirou and stepped inside, toeing his sandals off in the entryway as prompted. He could feel his magic within the bauble begin to do its work.

The two of them were led through the front hallway to a nice little parlor - every decorative pillow perfectly positioned, a few vases filled with fake flowers, and the gleaming white carpet looking as untrodden upon as the day it was bought. All in all, it looked conspicuously perfect and horrifically unlived-in. Just like Seishirou himself, Fai thought.

“Have a seat,” Seishirou said, indicating the couch. “I’ll fetch refreshments.” And then he paced off to the kitchen. Fai met Kurogane’s eyes and shook his head slightly - _don’t eat or drink anything he gives you._

Kurogane nodded once, then tilted an eyebrow - _why aren’t you talking?_

Fai tapped his ear - _he has ears all over the house._

One minute - Seishirou came back in carrying a wicker tray with two cups and those frosted supermarket cookies nicely laid out on a plate, and in the other hand he held a pitcher of iced tea. He set them down on the coffee table and then gracefully sat in an arm chair; he did not look at Kurogane or even acknowledge his presence in any way. All the better, then. “Now Fai, what’s the occasion? I would think you would be busier with other things, considering the weather.”

Fai quelled the offense he took - who was Seishirou to tell _him_ how to do his job when he couldn’t even follow common magical decency? “It’s just that, Seishirou!” He replied cheerily, fixing on a pleasant smile to match the other’s. “While we figure out a solution, the community needs to work together to reduce our water usage. I’m here to discuss strategies to be water-conscious!”

Seishirou smiled back at him. “By all means, go ahead.”

Mars above, that snake’s smiles already set him on edge. Fai was fairly certain that Seishirou knew something was up - it was hard to tell, with how Seishirou looked at other people as if they were _things_ \- but he just had to keep chattering and holding up the pretense long enough for the bauble to do its work. Kurogane shifted beside him. “For magic practitioners, a small herb garden is essential for our work! I wouldn’t _dream_ of asking anyone to let their garden die, but consider letting the less-used plants rest this season. I’ve let my figwort and hyssop wilt, for example.”

“I’ll think about it,” Seishirou replied, the condensation from the glass he was holding dripping down into his lap.

“When we arrived, I couldn’t help but notice your lovely green lawn. It looks great! Complements your house very nicely. But I’m asking you today to let it yellow - reduce your sprinklers to once or twice a week. Considering it’s cosmetic in purpose, I don’t think it’s too much of a burden.” Two minutes. Kurogane shifted beside him.

“It’s a very nice idea,” Seishirou said, swirling the ice cube in the cup with circular precision, smiling blithely. “But I don’t see why I should sacrifice my plants for a problem that isn’t _my_ fault.”

“We all live and work in this city, Seishirou!” Fai chirped. “It’s a community-wide issue that impacts everyone, including you and I, and even the people who have no idea magic even exists. We have to work together to lessen its effect.”

“I suppose you could say that,” Seishirou said, placing his drink down on a coaster. “However, _this_ isn’t really in the spirit of working together, is it?”

Fai’s blood ran cold. They were only halfway there. Shit shit shit. “What do you mean?” He asked innocently. He could feel Kurogane start reaching for his knife.

Seishirou smiled that bland, papier-mache smile at him. “Let’s not fool around any longer.” He raised his hand in front of him, twisted his wrist, and Fai found himself yanked over the table towards Seishirou by tendrils of shadow that bled from the corners of the room, his limbs and torso and neck tightly ensnared. He couldn’t move. He could barely draw breath.

Kurogane lept to his feet with a snarl, brandishing his knife. “Let him go,” he growled.

“If he makes a move, I'll break each of your limbs,” Seishirou told Fai calmly, ignoring Kurogane, still smiling. Always smiling. If Fai wasn't busy fearing for his life, he would find the similarity between them kind of funny. Kind of awful.

Kurogane bristled with anger, but stayed his hand, remaining on his side of the table.

“I know that you're here for the selkie pelt,” Seishirou said, patting Fai on the head. Fai wanted to bite it off. “I need it for a client, so I won't be giving it back. My apologies.”

“What is all this shit? We had you clean all the spirits of the dark out of your basement _years_ ago!” Fai snarled. “You made an _oath_.”

“Yes, I recall that,” Seishirou replied, his smile darkening slightly. “But I made it to _Yuuko_. With her death, I'm not beholden to her anymore. That's how oaths _work_.”

“ _Don't use her death like that!_ ” Fai snapped, twisting at his bindings, feeling bloodlust rise in his veins. How _dare_ Seishirou be so disingenuous and _slimy_ to betray that oath, how _dare_ he disrespect Yuuko’s memory this way...

“Why do you need the selkie pelt?” Kurogane broke in, dagger still leveled in Seishirou’s direction.

“Here, let me show you my work. I'll admit I'm quite proud of her.”

He raised his hand and made a series of gestures, and again from the shadows _something_ flew out, and Fai was trying to look at it, trying to see what it was, but if he stared at it too long his eyes burned, his stomach felt overturned, he felt _terrible_. It had two wings, and shed feathers as it alighted on Seishirou’s arm.

“A nachtkrupp,” Fai breathed. “Seishirou... why on the soil of the earth…”

“A commission,” Seishirou replied. “You know how it is. Hair removal potion, luck sigils, nightmare bringers. The business of being a witch.”

“What's a nachtkrupp?” Kurogane said, luckily looking at Fai rather than the damned bird.

“A very dark creature,” Fai answered, fighting back nausea. “It brings plague and nightmares and eats children. They don't occur naturally - but Seishirou is almost done constructing it. Notice how it sheds feathers? It's not complete.”

“Very good, Fai,” Seishirou said, stroking the nachtkrupp’s head. “One would think you missed your calling.”

If Fai could move his arms, he would punch Seishirou’s jaw off. “Fuck you. I need to know this to protect the populace from scum like _you_. Subaru doesn't deserve this.”

“Ah, yes. Dear Subaru,” Seishirou hummed. “You stopped in at the perfect time. I was just about to burn the pelt as the finishing touch.”

“The finishing touch?” Kurogane asked.

“The nachtkrupp can't hold its form for very long right now - see how it's losing volume as feathers fall?” Fai tried to twist his arm to reach his pocketknife, but it was jerked away. “He’s going to power it with the magic weight of the pelt, which carries Subaru’s broken trust and _suffering_. It was given unwillingly, so it's an uneven deal, which is a major component of dark magic - that's why _decent_ witches have to be so particular about their bargains. Selfish behavior leads to nothing but _trouble_.”

“Fai, you wound me,” Seishirou said blandly. “Magic is magic. I'm merely doing my job. Although I may just kill my client and keep Nix for myself; I've grown quite fond of her.” He adjusted a wing feather on the rapidly disintegrating beast. “I’m interested in what sort of power she could wield. Sacrificial rituals are so _robust_ \- I’m sure you understand, what with your history and all.”

Fai’s blood ran cold. _How did Seishirou know about that_. “Don’t you _dare_ bring that up. This has nothing to do with that.”

“I’ve wondered for years what Ashura’s ritual would have done if it had been allowed its final step to completion,” Seishirou said, circling his wrist so the shadows tightened around Fai. “I suppose I could replicate it - but for that, I’d need _both_ Sumeragis’ pelts, hm?”

Fai wanted to shut his ears off. He didn’t want to hear about this. He wanted to make Seishirou disappear - he wanted himself to disappear - he wanted these blasted shadows to swallow him up so he could _forget_ everything, the past and the present and the imminent dry future. His ears rang with the echoes of Yuui’s screams, the scars on his back sparked with pain, his blood felt as if it were on _fire_. He tried to remember what Yuuko always told him - _just breathe, put yourself in the present, that’s behind you now_ \- but the memories and despair and _guilt_ were drowning him up, the shadows so much like the _ink_ -

“Oi, witch,” Kurogane said. “What’s he talking about? Is he trying something?”

Gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut, Fai hissed, “Don’t listen, mister muscles. It isn’t important anymore.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say _that_ ,” Seishirou commented. “That interesting little ritual was stopped just before it was fully powered, but perhaps it is coming to fruition with just a slight delay.”

Fai’s head snapped up. “... what do you mean?”

A corner of Seishirou’s mouth tilted up in amusement. “It’s just speculation. But everyone’s wondering why you haven’t fixed the drought yet, Fai.”

No. _No_. It’s over, Yuuko stopped it, it couldn’t be a result of that - she said it was finished - she took the tattoo off of him herself - she took Ashura’s life, she said it evened the deal, she said that had made up for Yuui - the ritual was disrupted before it was completed - Fairhaven was left intact - it wasn’t him, it had nothing to do with him - _oh sun and stars it did, no no no -_

“It appears that this phoenix doesn’t have as good control of her powers as the last,” Seishirou said, smiling at him with the smugness of knowing something that Fai didn’t. The nachtkrupp finished crumbling into a pile of feathers at their feet.

“ _Fuck you!_ ” Fai shrieked, struggling at his bonds with more fervor and desperation than before - that was the last straw - how _dare_ he say that _,_ how dare he _imply - it couldn’t be, Fai would **know** , Yuuko had **said**_ _\- please, it couldn’t be him, not again -_

“That’s _enough_ ,” Kurogane shouted, and from his pocket he seized a lump of salt and a lighter. “You release him _right now_ or I torch this place with blessed salt. Don’t try me.”

Seishirou properly looked at Kurogane for the first time, and his gaze shifted as he examined his aura like the innards of an unknown animal. Beyond his fury, Fai could feel him sifting through Kurogane's mental wards, and he snarled to Kurogane, “Close your mind if you can! He’s intruding! Don’t let him in!”

Kurogane’s aura immediately slammed shut, but Seishirou had finished his invasion, and was chuckling a bit. “Well, well. That’s rather sweet. You don’t look the part, but I suppose even the _butchest_ hunter can fall prey to such feelings.”

“ _Shut up,”_ Kurogane growled. “Let go of him.”

Seishirou hummed, then tugged the shadows holding Fai towards him and grabbed him by the waist, holding him close. Sun above, the man _stunk_ of malignant magic, and clearly had no concept of _normal human boundaries_. If Fai had his hands free… “This _upsets_ you,” Seishirou commented, staring at Kurogane as if he was still able to sift through his head. What on earth was going on? Was he appealing to Kurogane's pride and sense of duty? Was he just trying to hurt Fai in a new and callous way? The situation was too perilous for Fai to really try and comprehend what Seishirou was trying to do as he was more focused on the tendrils pressing the breath from his lungs, but he dearly wanted Seishirou to go back to ignoring Kurogane. He had done nothing to deserve this violation. “For all your grandstanding, you are still a common fool. You had the right idea - you’re best off just with your apprentice. I don’t see why you’re doing this to yourself. ”

“Stop yapping on about shit you know jack about,” Kurogane ground out. “I won’t repeat myself again. _Get away from him_.”

Seishirou chuckled distantly, eyes sliding away from Kurogane and back to Fai. “You two are quite sweet, but you've become a rather unfortunate obstacle, Fai. I'll have to remove you.” Then he drew out a dagger and the blade flashed towards Fai's throat - and everything flashed before his eyes - he heard Kurogane yell - and through the fear, he found that he felt _relief_ , because maybe _this_ was the solution he had been looking for all along -

And then there was a flare of light arcing up between them, and Fai fell to the ground, hacking and coughing and inhaling full breaths, free from the shadows. There was an instant of disappointment (the weight from his shoulders, the possibility of his city being safe - they would have gotten along without him, he can be replaced after all, he's disposable) but overall he felt relief and a very warm, familiar feeling.

Seishirou was still smiling, but it was obvious the rat bastard had no fucking idea what had just happened. But Fai found that he _did_.

“Once you’ve made an oath to the resident witch, even if the title is passed, you can’t renege upon it. _Dickhead_ ,” Fai wheezed out, defiant smile inching across his face. Yuuko had saved him again.

“I see,” Seishirou said shortly, tightly, unsettlingly. “That’s too bad. I suppose I’ll have to go for your hunter, then.” And his hand swung towards a startled, unprepared, _unguarded_ Kurogane, and Fai felt sudden _terror_ at the idea of having jeopardized this brave noble man with whom he had barely just crossed paths because of his _audacity_ to _stay alive -_

Then the door broke open with a great _crash_  and there was a voice shouting, “ _Release!”_

The room flooded with light, chasing the shadows away, and there stood Syaoran and the selkies at the doorway with Sakura at their helm, and she was brandishing an amulet in front of her that blazed like the sun. Seishirou staggered back with a yell, flinging his arms up across his face.

“Kid!” Kurogane barked. “Catch!” He dug into his pocket and threw the bauble, _the moonforsaken bauble_ , at Syaoran and then ran to Fai, crouching down next to him and helping him up.

Fai leaned on Kurogane, still getting his breath back, and squinted at his apprentice, his mind spinning in the sudden changes. “Give it to Subaru!” he called over to Syaoran, still gasping for regular breath. “It can find the pelt! It has your hair in it, it should work - let your instincts guide you!” The light was dying down - they had to move fast. If they could just get the pelt, Fai could hopefully find an opening to take Seishirou down. Hokuto nodded, grabbing Subaru by the arm and pulling him into the house.

Subaru followed her, his eyes catching on Seishirou. He stopped in the middle of the parlor, which had been so neat and perfect before - the wreckage must be blatant to a boy who had thought of it as a safe haven. “Wait,” he said. “Wait. He… it's him.”

Seishirou stood straight, gazing at Subaru. “Good afternoon, Subaru, Hokuto.”

“You…” Subaru began, voice hitching. “You really took my pelt.”

Seishirou shrugged, pleasant smile fixed on. “I needed it, and you were conveniently around. The staff at the cafe I recommended to you were quite easy to thrall.”

“You were going to make something horrible with it,” Subaru said. He picked up one of the incomplete nachtkrupp’s feathers. “You were hurting Mr. Flowright. You… you were hurting _me_. For your own gain.”

“So it seems.”

Subaru stepped up to him, tugging his arm from Hokuto’s grip, ignoring Kurogane’s growl of warning. He looked up into his eyes, examining something Fai wasn't sure was there. Seishirou did not move. He still smiled.

Then Subaru’s face tightened in sadness and pity. “If you wanted me to stay, you only needed to have _asked,_ Seishirou.” He placed a hand on Seishirou’s shoulder, more gently than a man like him deserved. “But not like this. Don't _force_ me.”

And Seishirou looked... uncovered. His smile dropped, and he looked at Subaru like he wasn’t a object. Fai didn't know what to think of it. It was a foreign thing on Seishirou to him, but then, he was not Subaru.

And then his horrible smile costume was pulled back on and he brushed Subaru’s hand off. “Oh, Subaru,” he sighed. “If you think this has anything to do with you, you are sorely mistaken.” And from his palm he pulled the pelt - _a bodily storage spell, of course_ \- and Fai wasn't close enough to do anything as Seishirou whipped out a lighter - Subaru’s agonized panicked face, he didn't deserve this - he had failed in his duties again -

“ _Not my baby brother, jackass!"_

And there was a _crack!_ as Hokuto punched Seishirou clear across the jaw. The man had a gloriously stunned expression as he fell to the floor, and Fai savored it. Oh, he _savored_ it. There was their weak spot. Time for that brute strength.

Fai and Kurogane dashed over to Seishirou - Fai kept him down with a blow to the gut (oh, that felt good) and Kurogane pinned him with a knee on the chest. Sakura ran to him, assuming her place at his side for the assist, clapping her palms together. They had done this maneuver before.

Fai jammed the heels of his hands into Seishirou’s temples. “ _By the lotus of Morpheus, carry him to you,_ ” he said in his learned tongue - a long-span sleep spell. They were putting him under deep freeze. Seishirou’s eyes starting clouding over, and he looked from Fai, to Sakura, to Fai again.

And then he started laughing, and laughing, and laughing, still chillingly polite and detached. “Oh, Fai,” he said, drifting off. “The biggest fool in this room isn't Subaru, or your hunter, or even me. It's _you_.”

Fai’s blood ran cold. “What?”

“Don't listen to him,” Kurogane snarled.

Seishirou’s smug, knowing eyes bore into him. “You should look in the forest for your solution, _little bird_. It won't stay dormant for much longer.”

His gaze darted over to Subaru for a final moment, and he drew a breath, and said, “I…”

And then his eyes closed, and he was under.

The room was silent for a stunned moment - Fai and Sakura and Kurogane knelt over Seishirou, Syaoran standing between the selkies and the conflict, the nachtkrupp’s feathers still scattered on the floor.

“Not much of a sleeping beauty,” Kurogane grumbled, and by the moon above, Fai couldn't help but break into exhausted laughter. Then his head swam, and he fell back into Kurogane’s suddenly outstretched arm.

“Fai!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Witch, what the hell?” Kurogane demanded. His arm felt sturdy like - like a branch, Fai thought wildly. Something sturdy like that. Something alive.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he panted. Breathing was not usually this difficult. His head felt overheated. “Still awake. Just the adrenaline wearing off.” _Not now. Don't pass out now._

Syaoran walked over and picked up the pelt where Seishirou had dropped it. “Oh, Subaru…” he murmured.

He held it up, and while the majority of the pelt was a spotted tawny brown, the lower corner was seared at the edge. Everyone looked at it in horror, Subaru’s eyes welling with tears, and Fai felt driven halfway to crying himself because of the stress and he was _still fainting_ and he had _failed_ and sun above, everything about today…

After a tense, silent moment of examination, Syaoran finally said, “It should be fine. He didn’t destroy any significant part of it - it was just singed, I believe.” He walked over to Subaru and gave it to him gently. “You’ll most likely have a scar, but from what I know about transformative species, if the pelt is intact you’ll still be able to change."

Subaru sighed in utter relief and clutched his pelt to his chest, sinking to his knees. “At least there’s that.”

Kurogane helped Fai up (which was still humiliating), and Fai hobbled over to Subaru and crouched down in front of him. “I’m sorry that you had to go through this,” he said to him, remembering Yuuko speaking to him so benevolently all those years ago. “It’s always horrible when someone betrays your trust and love like this. It’s not your fault.”

Subaru nodded. “Um… what did you do to Seishirou?”

That lingering concern would most likely never go away, especially for someone as innately kind as Subaru. “I’ve put him in something between sleep and a coma,” he explained. “He’s unconscious, but not dreaming. His body will stay the same until he wakes up - no need to eat or drink. This will last for at _least_ a year - maybe more, depending on circumstances. Seishirou has done… a lot of bad things. But he won’t be killed - that's not how I'm meant to mete out justice. So he’ll technically be alive, but unable to harm anyone.”

“Oh,” Subaru murmured. “I suppose that’s the best case scenario.”

“I’m sorry it came down to the wire there at the end,” Fai went on. “I should have been a bit faster.”

“It's okay,” Subaru said softly, staring down at the marred pelt in his hands. “What's - what's important is, we stopped him from making something terrible and dark.”

“No, you _idiot!"_  Hokuto cried, rounding on her brother. “What's important is that _you're okay_. Sure, you might have a scar! And sure, Seishirou turned out not to be your dream boyfriend! But we're _selkies_ \- fire won't keep us down for long.”

This seemed to lift Subaru from his stupor a bit. “Right. _Right._ It... it will be good to swim with everyone again.”

“That’s the spirit!” Hokuto said, hugging him very, very tightly. She was obviously quite shaken, despite the cheer she was projecting.

Sakura came up to his side as the twins went through the main rooms of Seishirou’s house to find any possessions they had left there. “I’m really happy you’re okay, Fai,” she said, wrapping a hand around his wrist. “It seemed like it was getting pretty hairy in there.”

“Let’s just say it’s good that you came when you did, honey,” Fai said lightly. No need to worry her any more than she already was.

“Well, Hokuto arrived, and you weren't picking up your phone and I had a really bad feeling, so we took a cab here,” Sakura explained. “Um, the petty cash jar is empty now, by the way.”

“That’s just fine,” Fai said. “Can you show me the amulet you had? The one with all the light?”

Sakura handed him the amulet. “Here. Sorry if I wasn't meant to use this.”

“I would be in no place to scold you even if that was the case. Where did you get this?” Fai asked, turning it over in his hands. It was round and gilded gold, with a ruby inlaid in its center shaped like the sun.

“I found it in your office,” she told him a bit sheepishly. “It was in a bunch of boxes. I had a… _feeling_ that this one was what I needed to take. And I guess I was right.”

“You have very good magical instincts,” Fai said. “I recognize it now - it was one of Yuuko’s. It never responded to me, but it seems you figured it out.”

Sakura colored. “I just channeled my power through it like you always tell me to. I guess the adrenaline helped!”

“I suppose so! But regardless of the circumstances, I'm very proud of you and indescribably grateful,” Fai said, wrapping her up in a tight hug. She returned it, and by the birds in the sky, her arms were so blessedly warm and _kind_ \- so different from Seishirou’s shadows. Both she and Yuuko had come to his rescue today. “Thank you so much, sweetheart. Thank you so, so much.”

“It was for _you_ , Fai,” she said into his neck. “You deserve it.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “I think you owe my apprentice a thank you too, tall dark and grumpy!”

To his surprise, Kurogane nodded and bowed slightly. “Thanks,” he said gruffly. “Really appreciate it. I would have died without your help.” He looked at her steadily and sincerely, and Fai’s stomach flipped a little.

Kurogane really had been moments from death. If that had happened, Fai would never have been able to forgive himself. Thank the sun above for Sakura.

Kurogane stuck out his hand - Sakura instead went for the hug. Fai couldn't help but giggle at the bewildered look on Kurogane’s face and the stilted way he wrapped an arm around her comparatively tiny shoulders. They were an amusing pair, and it lightened the load on Fai’s shoulders.

Fai called Watanuki and requested his and Doumeki’s help purifying Seishirou’s house - it was too much for one man to do, even if that man was resident witch. Watanuki frantically agreed, his scrambling audible, and said they would take the apothecary’s car in case any artifacts had to be contained in the storehouse.

They also made plans for Watanuki to add to the sleep spell - Seishirou’s body would be in stasis in one of the rooms, then the whole house would be sealed and walled off. He would not be harmed - no matter how much Fai would like to - but he would be unable to do anyone any injury. It would be a long while before Seishirou woke again, and by then Fai would be ready. That man would not hurt his city again.

“Alright, I’ll wait here for Kimihiro and Shizuka,” Fai announced as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Kuroburo, you drive them back. Sakura, you have your keys, right?” Kurogane scoffed and Sakura nodded. Fai looked gently to poor Subaru, who was standing with the support of his sister and Syaoran. “You can stay at my house as long as you like,” he said gently. ”When I finish this up, I’ll make some dinner. Feel free to break into my mead if that's necessary.”

Subaru nodded numbly. He didn't seem able form words. He clutched his pelt tightly.

Fai took his hand between his own. “It will be awful for a while,” he told him softly. “I won't lie to you - It will ache. But you're strong enough to survive. And you have me, and your pod, and most importantly, dear Hokuto. You'll be fine.”

Yes. He had Hokuto, and Hokuto still had him. There was at least that. Fai hadn’t failed as much as he could have, though it would have been yet another ghost come back to haunt him. This was all hitting a little too close to home for him.

Subaru searched his face as if he was trying to find some spell to fix all of this, to make Seishirou the man he so cleverly appeared to be. But they both knew that it wasn't that easy.

“Thank you so much for your help,” Subaru finally said, bowing low. Fai returned it and felt like he should be apologizing.

Kurogane followed them out the door but shot Fai a look over his shoulder that clearly said _we're discussing this later._ Fai smiled cheekily back and winked _(that is never happening, big guy)_ , and was viscerally reminded of Seishirou’s horrible smiles. He hated himself.

And then the perfect little house with the perfect green lawn was empty but for him and Seishirou’s comatose body, full of secrets both valuable and dangerous.

He would have to go into the Fairhaven forest - he had been avoiding it, but with this information he simply had to do it. Most who go in do not come out alive, and right now it was full of half-starved beasts, whose plight was due to his own negligence and ignorance. He supposed he deserved it.

He wished Yuuko was here to help him.

Consumed by fear and self loathing as puzzle pieces started falling into place, Fai did his best not to fall apart among the remains of a nightmare creature, unable to forget the phoenix feather sitting on his desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Lore notes!](http://robinauts.dreamwidth.org/1661.html)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor suicidal thoughts, as Fai does.

The Fairhaven forest was for the most part a wild and unkempt place. There were main trails navigated by many of the city’s residents and visitors, but those had been bleached of magic influences a few decades ago - suspicious and gory deaths and disappearances were not good for tourism. People could hike those trails through the forest to scenic overlooks with no fear, and were subtly kept from wandering too far off - if anyone strayed, compulsion wards kicked in and made them want to get back on the path.

Yuuko had set all this up soon after she became resident witch, she had told him. It’s unreasonable to keep the people from their natural surroundings, but some things should be blocked off for everyone’s safety.

There were a number of people who did wander into the forest, however - witches could gather wild ingredients from certain groves and clearings. In fact, the Doumeki apothecary had a private trail especially for accessing certain substances that grew best in the wild. However, nobody but the most daring (and the soonest dead) made a habit of it. Humans, magical or not, did not have dominion over the forest; due to Fairhaven's magical vein being at its most potent in the soil, there were tricks and traps and half-real hazards under every stone and shrub. Everyone knew to only enter when necessary and to never to stay out there past dark - and now, as the danger from starving dark creatures grew, even those brave few kept their distance.

Of all the people in Fairhaven, Fai was one of the safest when he walked in the forest off the beaten path. The title of resident witch carried protections inherited from those who had held the office in the past, as well as access to some of the most thorough maps made of the forest - not to mention Fai's high level of magical skill and power.

But now it was his duty to venture into the forest and try to find a solution to the sunlight that scorched it. He could not begrudge any creature that would attack him - his failure to fix the drought had led to their hunger, after all.

So for the past week and a half, ever since he had put Seishirou to sleep, Fai had been going out into the forest and scouring it with every searching spell he could think of. He had begun with the natural wellsprings and started canvassing it after that on a grid system. Potion and charm commissions had been closed and Sakura had been put in charge of completing those remaining that she could do. This was more important. He only had a week left before the solstice, before half of the Folk left, before the forest’s lake and streams dried and drove its wild inhabitants into his city. Before he failed them all.

He left early in the morning before anyone could stop by and interfere, customers or friends or ever-hovering hunters. He knew he was chasing after a half-there hint from an unhinged, dangerous man, but what else was there to do anymore? He had exhausted every other avenue. The forest contained multitudes unknown. If there was an answer to be found, it was there. It was his last try.

Then one evening Fai came back with a long gash on his arm, absolutely exhausted from days of toil with no results, his clothes stained with his own blood from an encounter with a hodag. He felt like shit, but it was what he had to do. Sakura had sat with him at the kitchen table, applying gauze and ointment in the muggy twilight, and demanded that he take someone with him next time. “You can’t go in there alone again,” she said, cleaning away the dirt and blood with a washcloth. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m not taking you,” he told her firmly. “I need you here, and you’re not skilled enough yet. I refuse.”

Sakura sighed in exasperation. “I expected that, and I guess you’re right.” She spread the calendula and chamomile over him. “Take Kurogane.” 

Fai stiffened minutely. “... I don’t know about that, hun."

“Why not?” she asked. “He’s big and strong and a good guy. Syaoran trusts him. He’s been hunting for years and years, probably as long as you’ve been going into the forest. And two people can do the work of one!”

“Kurogane has no active magical potential,” Fai commented. “But really, it’s okay. He doesn’t need to get involved.”

She rounded on him, and the frustration and worry in her expression was obvious. Oh, he hated this. “I don’t understand why you’re so resistant to him! He protects people, that’s what he _does_. And you two get along really well! Syaoran says he’s never seen Kurogane the way he is with you. You’re _friends._ ”

Fai knew he was dangerously fond of Kurogane already - because besides how he didn’t have any time for such entanglements right now, what with the drought, and how Kurogane would be leaving to continue his hunting at some near point... there was no way Kurogane would ever return any affections. He must think of Fai as weak, always about to topple over; incompetent, spending his time fixing small problems instead of the drought; a danger, because there was a horribly large chance that he was the cause of his city’s plight.

He would be lucky if they even were friends, beyond simple allies - he did not want to overestimate his worth to a man such as Kurogane.

“... I’ll ask him,” Fai finally said. He would just tell Sakura that he had said no.

Sakura scrutinized him for a moment, then snatched his phone from the counter, swiftly unlocking it. “Let’s call him right now,” she said. “It’s only eight - he should still be awake, right?"

Fai couldn’t take it back without jostling his drying arm, so he just sat there and grinned. She knew him _way_ too well. “Don’t blame me if he yells at you!”

Sakura swiped through his contacts with ease. “I wouldn’t - it’s how he shows his affection.”

Before Fai could ask her what she thought she was implying with _that_ , she had the phone up to her ear and was saying, “Hi, Kurogane? Yeah, this is Sakura, I have something to ask of you."

Muffled talking.

“Oh, he’s right next to me. I’m just using his phone because he’s stubborn.”

There was a bark of laughter from the other end. Fai colored a bit.

“Anyway, I wanted to ask if you’re free the next few days - for the last week Fai has been going into the Fairhaven forest to find the solution to the drought and - “

Shouting interrupted her.

“You’ll have to ask him yourself, but I’m pretty sure he’s on the right track. Anyway, he won’t let me come with him and - yes, I agree that he’s right in that, you don't have to tell me - but today he came back with this really nasty, super bloody injury - “

Fai said, “Sakura, don’t _exaggerate_ , it wasn’t _that bad,”_ as Kurogane incoherently yelled down the line. Predictable.

Sakura barreled on through the din. “ - and we were thinking that it would be great if you could come with him as backup.”

Fai could barely hear any of what Kurogane said next, but Sakura smiled at certain parts and flashed him a mischievous look. She handed him the phone and he sighed, aggrieved, but put it up to his ear.

“Good evening, sugarlips!” he said, faking pep. “What’s up?”

“Don’t _what’s up_ me,” Kurogane snarled. “I had your apprentice hand you the phone so I could tell you you’re an idiot directly.”

“That’s not very nice,” Fai cooed, settling in to tease. He was tired from his day of hiking, but not enough to not mess with Kurogane a little. “Where’s your bedside manner? I’m injured! _Wounded!"_

“And you didn’t have to be. I gave you my contact information so you could _call me_ if you have to do shit like this.” His voice was tinny over the phone, and Fai found himself wishing Kurogane was yelling at him to his face.

“I didn’t want to pester you!” _Or acknowledge that I can’t help my town by myself_.

“This is my _damn job,_ witch. I help people who need help. And since you got your arm fucked up, you obviously need my help.” He paused, then said, “There’s no shame asking for it. You got that?”

When Fai didn’t say anything - he had no idea how to _respond_  to that - Kurogane sighed and continued on. “Your apprentice is worried. Listen to her advice. People who just do whatever they want without thinking about the people around them are idiots. From what I’ve seen, you’re not an idiot. So… don’t.” 

The awkward little end startled a giggle out of Fai, and maybe it was the exhaustion or the injury or the stress of the drought - maybe all three - but he replied softly, “Alright, big guy. You can come tomorrow. Pick me up at eight in the morning, and make sure bring a sack lunch and your good hiking shoes.”

“... Right. Okay. Will do,” Kurogane said gruffly. “Night.”

“Sweet dreams, hugbear! Don’t let the bedbugs bite!” Fai chirped, and Kurogane muttered something about _not being six years old_ and _you too_ and hung up. He couldn’t stop smiling - that brief conversation really had lightened his shoulders. He felt less exhausted and more sleepy now.

Sakura was smiling fondly at him as she finished wrapping his arm, and Fai’s face heated a little. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing,” she sang, clearing away the jars and gauze. “I’m just happy you have a _friend your own age_.”

“Oh, hush,” he said, heading off to his room. If she saw him blushing, he would _never_ hear the end of it. “Brush your teeth and go to bed and all that jazz.”

“Have _fun_ tomorrow.”

_“Brush your teeth!”_

-

Kurogane showed up as promised five minutes before eight, backpack slung over his shoulder and in a sleeveless shirt. He walked in just as Sakura was spraying Fai with aerosol sunscreen, and snorted.

 _"What?”_ Fai asked. “I have delicate skin! I burn like a salamander out in that sun!”

“Would think those giant hats of yours cover up any sunlight.”

“Hey! Don’t knock my hats!” Fai said, rubbing in the sunscreen. “They’re traditional and I think I look very nice in them.”

When Sakura handed him his sack lunch she winked at him. Fai batted her on the head in gentle reprimand, and she giggled.

Kurogane drove the two of them to the forest’s edge - a maintenance parking lot by the chainlink fence that kept the less determined from blindly wandering in. Fai pulled out his maps and spread them across the hood of the car to catch Kurogane up to the work he had already done.

“I’ve marked the sections I’ve already searched,” he said, gesturing to about a third of the map. He had done most of the west side, with some scattered sections around natural Founts.

“How are you doing this? Are you flying up in that damn broom of yours?” Kurogane said, peering at Fai’s chickenscratch notes and markings.

“Oh, no,” Fai replied. “The type of high level searching spells I’m using need to be activated on the ground, touching the soil. Lessening contact with the ground would make them less effective.”

“Good. Those things are too damn dangerous.”

“Like _you’ve_ ever actually flown on one, Mister bad-experiences-with-witches.”

“Shut up,” Kurogane grumbled. “How long has all this taken you?”

“The last few days,” Fai said. “I know, I’m really behind - “

“This is a lot to do,” Kurogane announced, looking sideways at him. “Good work.”

“Big words for someone who has no magical knowledge,” Fai replied, brushing off the comment. _Don’t overthink this_. “Come on, I left a warp artifact concealed in these bushes; it’ll take us to where I left off yesterday.”

They poofed into existence at the center of the last sector, where Fai had cast his last searching spell. Trees towered above them, hung with dry dead mosses and lichens, and pine needles crunched under their feet. All the bushes and logs nearby were yellowed and dry, crumbling in the heat. When Fai had first entered the forest a few days ago, he had almost broken down into tears at the sight of it - he remembered the forest as lush and verdant, bursting at the seams with life. That wasn’t the case anymore.

Light broke through the boughs and illuminated the clearing they were in; Fai had taken them to a relatively safer spot with visibility to start off. They would transition to darker, more hazardous areas as the day went on. Fai wasn’t about to just drop Kurogane into one of the most unpredictable areas in the region.

Fai set himself a guiding waypoint to the next spot he wanted to be, and they started off to the north. The day was already warming up, but the forest had enough shade to keep them cooler than they would be out in town. There were no trails in this area of the forest, so they had to clamber over logs and boulders and hop over gaps. Fai noticed Kurogane taking great care not to rustle any shrubs or make any unnecessary noise. After seeing him do a complicated shimmy around a bush, he flashed him a wry smile and said, “It doesn’t really matter how much noise we make. If anything’s going to attack us, it’ll smell us first. And even then, it’ll have to get through my stay-away charms.”

Kurogane grumbled, but nodded and moved much faster after that.

The spot Fai wanted to activate his next searching spell ended up being in a dry stream bed that wasn’t on the map; he had Kurogane mark it down as he went and dug a hole in the soil, deposited a chunk of apophyllite crystal in the ground, and then tapped it with his hazel wand. He felt an exchange between the crystal, the wand, and himself - felt a rush of  _hello how are you greetings salutations_ \- and sat down and meditated.

When Fai came back to himself, he found he had received nothing of note. He sighed, and picked himself up out of the dirt.

“Well?” Kurogane asked from where he was sitting on a stump. He seemed to have been watching him as he scanned the area. Fai hoped he wasn't too bored; meditation is incredibly unexciting to an outside observer.

“No dice.” Fai stood, cracking his shoulders, then turned around cheekily. “Hey, do I have dirt on my butt?”

“Don’t ask me that!” Kurogane blustered predictably. 

“Just answer me, butch boy! These are my favorite shorts.”

 _“No,_ okay, and your ass is _none of my business_. Let's _go.”_ And with that, he stomped off into the woods.

“...Other way, sweet pea.”

Kurogane grumbled but turned. Fai went to catch up to him, laughing all the while.

-

That day, as all the others, turned up nothing. They cleared more of the map, Fai found a bushel of high-grade amaranth, and Kurogane got teased within an inch of his life.

But it was nice. Very nice. Fai was able to move much faster with Kurogane helping to clear the path (and on one occasion bodily lift him over a gap) and the conversation kept him alert. They swapped stories of problems fixed and lives saved. If weren't for the worry he was drowning in, he would have said he'd enjoyed it immensely.

The next day, Kurogane turned up with his sack lunch five minutes before eight, now with Syaoran and Tomoyo in tow. Sakura stumbled out of bed, overjoyed to have her friends there for the day.

“Have a good time with your friends,” Fai told her. “Make sure to get everything done though, okay?”

“They'll help me out! Right, guys?” Sakura said, turning to them with a blinding smile. Syaoran and Tomoyo nodded furiously.

Fai chuckled, bending down to lace up his hiking boots. “Of course, of course. Oh! Honeybunches of oats! Muffin man! Yogurt b -”

 _“Stop calling me breakfast foods!”_ Kurogane snarled. “I'm not a damn pantry!”

Fai continued on as if he hadn't heard him. “Would you be _ever_ so kind as to go out back and move the preserves barrels into the shade? There’s only three, and they’ll spoil in the direct heat."

“I'm not your errand boy,” Kurogane grumbled, but did as he was told.

As Fai stood from tying his shoes, he caught Tomoyo tittering in his direction. “What's so funny?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said, turning her full attention to the tubers she was dutifully peeling. “Have a nice excursion. Best of luck today.”

They started more to the east that day, in a deeper part of the forest. There was less light there; the trees had grown thicker together, and their progress was slowed by the copious rocks and trees and uneven slopes that littered the area. Kurogane had brought an axe with him that day, which Fai was leery about - humans weren’t meant to interfere too much with this solitary part of the forest.

“Don’t chop anything that isn’t already dead,” he warned. “I don’t want to get cursed or something.”

“This place is a _mess_ , _”_ Kurogane said, swatting away a cobweb. “I see why you don’t come in here.”

“You’re such a whiny boy,” Fai pouted. “This is _breathtaking natural wonder!_ If we could let people in here, we might make it a national park or something. But alas, it's chock full of peril. Such is magic.”

“It’s a bunch of trees and rocks.”

“You simply have no eye for beautiful things,” Fai sighed, pushing past him and hopping up over a boulder. “You utter brute.”

“I can see beautiful shit, I just don’t think it’s a ton of plants that are in my way.” Kurogane said, stepping around a fallen, mossy log.

“Oh?” Fai said, looking up at him. “So what do you find beautiful?”

Kurogane looked back at him, pausing to think or something. He probably was gonna say _the scent of a fresh kill_ or _the glory of victory_ or _trucks_ or something macho like that.

Then Kurogane coughed, and said, “Well. Uh.” And Fai suddenly really wanted to hear what he was going to say, even as he was squashing down any foolish ideas -

And then a stick snapped to their right. Both of them tensed and stared at the direction the sound came from. Fai reached for his firepowder and Kurogane's grip tightened on his axe. They barely breathed.

Then a diminutive humanoid figure with yellow skin dashed out of the bushes and straight towards them, shrieking and laughing. Fai threw a palm of firepowder at it on reflex and caught it right in the eyes; it screamed and stopped in place, scrabbling at its face.

 _“Burn! Burn!!”_ It screamed. “Hurt! Hurt Hobbididance!”

“Oh, moon on the meadow,” Fai grumbled and relaxed his stance. “Not _these_ little bastards.”

Kurogane, with his axe still at the ready, looked to him. “You know this thing?”

“Unfortunately.” He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled in his learned tongue, _“Come on out, who ever else is there!”_

 _“Who says?”_ yelled a voice from some shrubs.

_“Says the resident witch of Fairhaven! You can’t hurt me or steal from me, you know the rules. Get on out here, I have no time for this.”_

Two little figures - one blue, one green - crawled out of the bushes, armed with crude hammers of wood and stone. Their ears dwarfed their heads, and their eyes had no sclera. They hissed and snarled at Fai, swinging their weapons in a way that would be intimidating if they were any larger than they were. As it was, it was entirely underwhelming.

“What the fuck are these?” Kurogane asked.

“They’re fiends, malevolent sprites. Some unseelie noble kept them as jesters or perhaps pets. Overall thorns in my side, regardless of their position - they've been the cause of several disputes. The yellow one is Hobbididance, it’s an idiot. The green is Mahu, it steals things. The blue is Flibbertigibbet, and it whines all the time.”

“You talk ‘bout Hobbididance?” the yellow one growled in broken English.

“No talk ‘bout Flibbertigibbet!” the blue one whined. “No know! No like!”

 _“Oh, just speak in your language, I’m fluent,”_ Fai snapped at it. “Kurogane, I’m just trying to get rid of them right now. Don’t let them touch you, they make you influenced by their attributes.” Kurogane nodded, holding the axe out in front of him. The fiends looked at it warily. _“Where are the rest of your gang?”_ Fai asked them.

 _“Obidicut and Modo left with some of them tall ones,”_ Mahu said. _“Di’nt want to stay in your nasty dry town, did they? I’m only stayin’ for now because the lootin’ will be good.”_

 _“I dunno if I want ta leave me home,”_ Flibbertigibbet blubbered. _“But it’s too damn dry! Oh, I dunno what to do.”_

“Not sure what’s goin’ on, t’be honest,” Hobbididance said, scratching its chin.

“There’s meant to be two more of them,” Fai told Kurogane, glancing around them. Were they trying to trick him...? No, they're not smart enough. “One who’s a horndog and one who’s bloodthirsty. I suppose we’re better off with them gone, but, you know.”

Kurogane nodded, his eyes trained on the fiends.

Fai continued on. _“I thought the Folk wouldn’t leave until the solstice.”_

Flibbertigibbet said, _“I know, I know! Our duchess left early! Said they had enough! Too hot and dead in the forest for their sensibillets, eh?”_

… that was very bad. Very, very bad. An unseelie _duchess_... Fai absorbed this, then moved on. _“ Listen to me. Focus. Have you found anything really powerful in the forest lately?”_

Mahu tugged on its ear. _“... what’ll ya give us if we tell you?”_

Fai dug out his sack lunch. _“I have a sandwich.”_

Mahu shook its head. “ _Nah, nah, that won’t cover it! If you’ve got gold, or silver, or rubies, or -_ “

 _“I want it!”_ Hobbididance shrieked, scrambling over to Fai, halting with a squeal when Kurogane stuck the axe in between them.

“Don’t step any closer,” he warned.

“Hungry! Hungry!” Hobbididance whined in English, jumping up and down. “Oi! Give it ‘ere!”

“It’s alright, Mister Muscles,” Fai said, smiling up at Kurogane. “I’m just bribing them. Don’t worry about me.” He tossed half of the sandwich to Hobbididance, who snatched it right up. “So what have you seen?”

 _“Big shiny rock out by the old maple tree out to the west of these parts,”_ Hobbididance told him around a bite of ham and bread. _“Can’t get near it. Get flung clear off. Big magic though.”_

Fai dug out a map - there was nothing of that sort marked on the western areas of the forest, nor anywhere. This was new. This might be what he was looking for.

“Hey!” Kurogane barked, and swung the handle of the axe at Fai’s side. Mahu, who seemed to have been trying to sneak into his pockets, was sent flying across the clearing. “Did you get what you asked for?” He asked Fai.

“I believe so,” Fai said, getting everything back together. “Let’s get out of here - we have some flying to do. ... _Thank you all for your help_. _”_

Mahu was too busy jeering and whining about the violent treatment to reply, while Flibbertigibbet had scampered behind a tree, looking fearfully at Kurogane. Hobbididance had its mouth full.

The spot was a ways away - too far to walk to - so Fai summoned his broom, laughing at Kurogane’s scoff about his slide whistle. “It’s just some fun, hun.”

“It’s as stupid as I remember.”

The broom came flying down into the clearing, halting cleanly at Fai’s side. He mounted, and gestured to Kurogane to climb on beside him.

Kurogane eyed it doubtfully. “You sure this’ll hold both of us?” 

“I enchanted this baby alllll by myself, big guy,” Fai said. “It could hold an _elephant,_ and you’re not that giant and hulking yet. Just hold on tight and don’t fall off.”

“I’m not gonna hang on to you like an idiot. I can stay on by myself.” Kurogane swung his leg over as ordered.

And as soon as Fai got a few feet off of the ground, he felt Kurogane’s hand grip tightly to his shoulder. He laughed gently. “This is your first time flying, huh? I’ll ascend slowly for your sake, but my waist really is safest, dude.”

“I’m _fine,”_ Kurogane grit out, but his arms went around his waist. Against his will, a small thrill run up his spine. Oh sun, oh stars. Kurogane’s arms felt just as ludicrously beefy as they looked.

As they were rising in the air, Mahu looked up at them and shouted, _“Ya better fix this sunlight shit! It’s too damn hot!”_

 _“That's my plan!”_ Fai called back, and then said more quietly, “You guys can go fuck yourselves, though.” 

Kurogane snorted in his ear as Fai had the broom fly up to above the treeline. They coasted towards the east.

“Why are you doing this?” Kurogane muttered in his ear.

“Because any lead to help Fairhaven is one I need to investigate! It's my duty.”

“I know that. I meant why are you following the advice of those runts and that dickhead with the bird.”

Ah. Fai knew this question was coming. “Well, as for the fiends, they don't have the intelligence to lie well, especially the one I was talking to. I would have known he was lying from the second he tried, even without a truth amulet.” He raised his forearm and displayed his collection of woven "charm" bracelets. “And as for Seishirou… well, he seemed to know a lot of things he shouldn’t, so I decided to trust that this was one more secret he had knowledge of. Dark magic has its benefits.”

“Is this about whoever Ashura is?”

Fai couldn’t help but flinch. “... Yeah.”

Kurogane sighed behind him. “I can tell that this is rough on you, but if it has any impact on what’s up with town - which I think it does - you gotta tell me. For the safety of this town." He shifted a bit. Fai was hyper-aware of his body by his. "But you don’t have to if you don’t feel comfortable, though.”

A few weeks ago, Fai would have thought _no no no_ and chased Kurogane from ever thinking about his childhood with a joke and a nickname. But now, with everything he was discovering... he wasn’t so sure. He wanted to be held accountable. Maybe Kurogane somehow had an idea. Maybe Kurogane would tell him that he’s an idiot and his suspicions are unfounded. Or maybe Kurogane would connect the dots like Fai was and push him off the broom.

He took a deep breath and felt it shudder through his lungs. He would summon his courage and tell Kurogane the bare bones of what had happened twelve years ago. And at least this way he wouldn’t have to see Kurogane’s face as he told him. The sturdy arms wrapped around his waist also helped.

“When I was young, I was adopted by a witch here in Fairhaven. Ashura. He was very powerful and very clever, but he wasn’t good at sticking to fair deals and good business like you’re supposed to. Power and cleverness and loose ethics are dangerous, as I'm sure you've seen in your travels and looking back, I’m pretty certain the malignant buildup from all those unbalanced debts corrupted his mind in some way… but he had always been a good parent and teacher to Yuui and I. Besides everything that happened... we loved him a lot.”

“Yuui?” Kurogane asked. The trees passed beneath them. Fai could feel a great magical presence and guided them towards that. He ignored the familiar feeling of his throat tightening and his lip wobbling.

“My twin brother,” Fai said, a beloved face flashing to the forefront of his mind. He still wondered if their faces would match in the present as they did back then, if looking in the mirror was like having his brother just across from him. He wondered if Yuui would have been a better resident witch. “Um. Anyway. When I was twelve, he attempted a ritual that would have collapsed Fairhaven. Yuuko said that if he had succeeded, the city would have fallen to whatever wanted to take it. I’m pretty sure it was actually an attack on her, but she never told me specifics - it was very dark magic, so I understand why. He put this magical tattoo - a very large and complex sigil - on me, and its purpose was to stifle my growing magic. I didn't have use of all of it, so it... built _up_ , in a way? Sorry, it's _way_  more complicated than that, it's kind of deep magic theory. But, um... he was going to use all that contained magic to power the ritual he was planning, which would wrench whatever he was summoning away from its current body, and then the sigil would be utilized as an anchor to keep it in Ashura's grasp. I think he wanted to use me, my body, to house it. It was powerful enough that the ritual required the developing and growing magic of an adolescent, as well as..."

He took a deep breath. _Just get it out, say it plainly_. “As well as my brother's death.” His voice trembled. How humiliating. “You know how powerful sacrificial magic is. He was... his _throat_... I had to watch. The emotional aspect of watching him die was apparently just as key as the sacrifice itself.”

Kurogane was silent behind him. His arms tightened minutely around Fai. 

“And then Yuuko came in and stopped him just before the ritual was completed. She removed the tattoo from my back and took me in. I owe her a great debt that I continue to repay with my service to the town.”

“... shit,” Kurogane murmured, his breath puffing against his neck. “That’s awful.”

Fai nodded. There wasn’t much else Kurogane could say after he had dumped all that on him. Sun and stars, he hated his emotional weakness. Kurogane must think him such a fool.

They were still quiet when they touched down on the ground, next to the tallest maple tree in the region. And just like the fiend had said, there was a ten foot tall chunk of obsidian sat right beneath it, absolutely covered in some of the most powerful wards he'd ever felt. He nearly recoiled at the sheer strength of them and barely resisted the compulsion to  _turn around and go back the way you came._

He offered Kurogane his hand. “Hold onto me. You won’t be able to get within twenty feet without it.”

Kurogane wrapped his hand around his, dwarfing it. His hand was so small and smooth in comparison. He didn't know how he wanted to feel about seeming so fragile.

They stepped towards the rock, Fai cleaving them a path between the wards. Some were like riddles, some were like stone, but with a lot of finesse and even more magic he found a way through each layer. And then at last they stood before the stone, and Fai reached up to touch it - and jerked his hand back at a searing heat, just an inch away from the rock. Try as he might, over and over with every method he could think of, he couldn’t get through the final ward.

“It’s too much for me,” he said, head spinning. This sort of thing used to not drain him so much. Where had all of his power gone? “I’ll have to come back with Sakura tomorrow and have her assist me.” He tried to move away, and then his ankles gave out beneath him; luckily, he fell back onto Kurogane, who caught him easily.

“We’ll wait here for a moment,” Kurogane told him. “Don’t argue with me. It’s not safe for you to do witch shit like this.”

“Ah, that’s probably for the best,” Fai said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.”

The two of them sat down and leaned against the obsidian. Kurogane got out his lunch and handed half of a clumsily-made ham sandwich and all of a neat little pastry (obviously courtesy of Tomoyo) to Fai. They sat there in the afternoon sun and ate together in silence - Fai didn’t have the energy to tease him. He was still breathing heavy, his overexerted magic turning in his gut.

The final ward on the rock was… immensely powerful. Too powerful for even him to break. It felt familiar.

It felt like Yuuko.

Thinking back to the feathers from the store house, Fai wanted to vomit.

“My parents were drained by vampires when I was eleven,” Kurogane said, breaking through his thoughts. “A hunter named Souma took the bastards down. I lived with family until I was old enough and then went and found her again. Trained under her and traveled with her. A few years back she got hitched to her girlfriend and settled down, but I kept hunting. Picked up Syaoran. And here I am.”

“... wow,” Fai said. That was more from Kurogane than he usually got. “I’m real sorry for taking you to Kanoe, then.”

Kurogane waved a hand. “You didn’t know and you were trying to help those seals. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Fai said softly, not sure of what to do with his hands. Kurogane always threw him so off-balance, but in a way that had him landing on his feet. “I really do appreciate it, tough guy.”

Kurogane coughed. “‘S no big deal. Figured it was like that equal exchange shit you harp on about so much.”

“I shouldn’t have dumped it on you in the first place,” Fai murmured. “Dragging you out into the woods and telling you all this. I’m supposed to be strong enough to deal with this on my own - I’m sorry for burdening you.”

“It isn’t a _burden,”_ Kurogane snapped, sitting up. “It happened. It was an important part of your life. I’m not just gonna tell you to suck it up, I’m not that much of an asshole.”

Fai giggled weakly. It was so easy to tell Kurogane all of this. Sturdy, solid Kurogane, who caught him when he fell. “Yeah, but I’m the resident witch. I’m supposed to be _better_ than this. Yuuko was never so weak.”

“Yeah, and you’re _not her,”_ Kurogane said. “Everyone always goes on about Yuuko this, Yuuko that. But you’re here and you’re doing just fine. You don’t just go around hexing people who wrong you - you’re a community leader and shit, like you said.”

Fai blinked. “Like I said?” What on Orion's belt?

Kurogane colored a little. “When we had lunch with Tomoyo that first time. Right after the Vila hunt. You said - _whatever_.” And then he sat back against the obsidian with an embarrassed little huff.

“Wow, you have such a good memory, snookums!” Fai teased, but felt himself blush too - Kurogane remembered what he had said weeks ago…?

Then Fai made a decision. Maybe it was because he was feeling weak, or open, or whatever. Maybe he was just unused to having a friend his own age, as Sakura had said. But he found that he just had to share this with Kurogane. It felt  _right_. It felt necessary.

He dug a notepad and a pen from his bag. He started sketching as Kurogane watched from over his shoulder.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Fai made the final flourish. “What does it look like to you?”

Kurogane squinted at it. “Some kind of bird.” He looked closer at the paper, brow furrowing. “... this is phoenix iconography.”

Fai nodded grimly. “This was the tattoo Ashura gave me. I’m pretty certain he was trying to bring a phoenix into that room.”

And then he told Kurogane, who eventually got out his notebook to take down notes, all that he knew that pointed the source of the Fairhaven drought to a phoenix. The light. The weather patterns. The feathers.

But he didn’t say anything about his further suspicions. That the ritual hadn’t been disrupted fully. He wasn’t ready to lose Kurogane’s respect just as he’d obtained it.

-

The next day - just a few days before the solstice - dawned bright and hot. As Kurogane drove Fai, Sakura, and Syaoran to the edge of the forest, Fai felt stress and terror broil inside of him. He didn’t want to know what was inside that rock that Yuuko had so heavily warded, but he _had_ to. For the sake of Fairhaven.

Fai warped all of them to the maple tree clearing, just outside the obsidian’s boundaries. Sakura visibly startled at the thick layers of protection surrounding it, then looked up to Fai, jaw set determinedly. “Let me try,” she said.

“Are you sure?” Fai asked her. “It’s very intense, and we only just started your training with ward-breaking.”

She shook her head. “No. I feel like I can do this.” Then she clapped her hands together, bowed her head, and stepped forward into the wards.

It took her only half of the time it took him. He followed her numbly, feeling like he would faint for multiple reasons. His _apprentice_ doing this so easily... was his magic so exhausted and depleted from yesterday (it should have recovered) and from the past months (where was it going)? Was he so weak now? Was he this useless?

They all made their way to the obsidian and stood around it and Sakura was stopped there too. “It won't budge!” she groused, banging her fist against the barrier.

Fai caught her hand before she could hit it again. “We need to work together,” he said with a smile. Beyond his own selfish concerns, it was so good to see Sakura excel.

He pressed their hands to the rock. “Now, remember like I taught you. Weave your magic with mine - like we're holding hands - and then _push_.”

She did as asked, her light yellow aura fusing at the edges with his blue one. And then they _pushed_ , and the ward just… split in half.

“Wow!” she said excitedly. “That was _amazing!_ Syaoran, did you see that??”

Syaoran cleared his throat. “... see what?”

“The ward on the rock just totally disappeared! Me and Fai just - _Fai!_ ”

He found himself falling forward, colliding with the obsidian and slumping down. His legs felt like water, his head felt stuffed with cotton, his eyes wouldn't focus.

But there was something embedded in the obsidian. Something crystalline but organic, something radiating magic and life.

He felt it calling to him, reaching toward him, grasping at the very essence of him...

“ _Witch!”_ He was jolted out of his reverie by a hand slapping his cheek.

“Owww…” he whined theatrically automatically, most of his brain still spinning away at what he had just experienced. “Snugglebug, why’re you hitting me?”

“Because you _passed out!”_ Kurogane yelled. Fai properly opened his eyes and found himself laid upon Kurogane's lap, everyone crouched over him with worried faces.

He pushed himself up with his hands on the ground - he needed to see what was inside that stone.

“Stay down!” Kurogane barked. “You just smacked your idiot head on this rock and _collapsed!_ What the hell is going on?”

“We need to get inside this rock,” Fai murmured, scrambling towards the rock, pressing his hands to it. It was warm. It was.. _._ “What we’re looking for - it’s inside of it. I know it. She put it here.”

“She? Who’s she?” Kurogane demanded. “Don’t just do shit without telling the rest of us!”

“ _Yuuko_ ,” Fai murmured reverently. “This magic - it’s calling to me, it’s hers, this is the solution to the drought!”

“Do you know that for _sure?”_ Kurogane said.

“No,” Fai admitted, “But I’m about to find out. Sakura, I need you to help me break it open.”

“Right!” She said, taking his hand again. They wove their magic together, and even as he ignored Kurogane's vocal protests Fai _knew_ that this would work. This would be it. His magic was practically _bleeding_ out of him towards whatever Yuuko had sealed here...

There was a loud _crack!_ and the rock split in half, and Fai turned to Sakura to congratulate her - and then there was a tug behind his ribcage, and he saw Sakura’s wide hazel eyes large and confused - the sound of crackling wind -

And then he and Sakura were in a dark, wooded space, still clasping hands.

“Fai?” she asked and pressed close to him. “Where are we?”

“I don't know,” he murmured, turning this way and that. He cast a small illuminating orb so he could see. “It's not the human plane, though.”

He could tell that wherever they were was a magical construct, a space that had been made and stored in the rock by a very powerful witch - and judging by the aura, that witch was Yuuko.

There were towering trees clustered around them, covering whatever sky there may have been and trapping them in this small copse. The soil beneath them was pitch black and the ferns were unnaturally still. There was no wind. There was no noise.

The illuminating orb’s reach was much tighter than it usually was and it quickly flickered out. Fai could feel his magic rapidly weakening, draining out of him… what was going on? What had Yuuko constructed here?

… was this made to cage _him?_

“Sakura. How is your magic?” he demanded. Maybe this was just what the space did, maybe it wasn't just him…

“I’m doing great,” she replied, face creased with fear. “Is something wrong with yours? Can you get us out?”

“... I’ll try.” He wouldn't concern Sakura with his magic supply. That was his own problem. Taking a deep breath, he encapsulated himself and Sakura in a magical field and tried to lift them away from this realm… and could not. The wall he was trying to climb was too tall. His magic wasn't working.

His magic wasn't working.

“Fai? What's going on?” Sakura asked, taking in his ashen face, his shaking limbs. _“Is something wrong?”_

He couldn't tell her this. He couldn't scare her even more than she already was. “It's alright,” he said, crouching down and hugging her tightly as the field he made crashed down around him, leaving him with scraps of magic that were quickly being siphoned away. “We’ll be fine.” He would protect Sakura with his life, if that’s what it took. He just needed to get her out of here. (And if he was out of the picture, maybe the drought would end. Maybe he could actually help his city.)

“Fai, don’t worry. We’ll be okay.”

He needed a path to get out, a path, a path, _a path_  -

And then the area lit up, and Fai looked up, and a path had been illuminated. In sunshine.

“Fai! Come on!” Sakura called, dragging him forward. They stumbled over rocks to wherever they were being led - the trees were closing ranks behind them - why was this forest rejecting him, Yuuko made this, what is he to make her space revile him so - he could barely run, barely breathe, his strength was leaving him -

The path ended in a clearing, which was blindingly full of sunshine. As soon as they crossed into it, the temperature of the air shot up twenty degrees. It was hard to breathe in the sheer heat of it.

In the middle of the area, there were a few crystalline shards that were slightly rounded and glittered in the light. They were cradled in a pile of ash.

"Do you know what those are?" Sakura asked, eyes fixed on them.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. But he knew what they were. He just didn’t want to face that reality.

“They’re so pretty…” she said. She stepped towards them, and before Fai could tell her not to, she stooped and picked a piece up.

It lit up brilliantly as soon as she touched it, bathing her face in bright sunshine. A smile grew on her face. “Fai, it’s wonderful…!”

“Sakura,” he said apprehensively. “I’m not sure if you should touch that.”

“No, no, it’s so _good_. It makes me feel comfortable and _strong,”_ she murmured. “Here, see?” And she passed him the shard.

As soon as it was dropped into his hand the light grew blinding, and he felt all of what was left of his magic - and stars in the sky there was _so little left_ - being drawn to the tips of his fingers, into the shard of what was undoubtedly the remains of a phoenix egg.

He fell - Sakura caught his body the best he could, shouting - moon and Mars and _mud_ , he was passing out again, they were going to be trapped here, Kurogane was going to be so _disappointed_ \- and it was him, it was _all his fault_  -

-

The next thing he knew, he was somewhere soft. A bed. There was a pillow beneath his head.

He could feel, however weakly, the wards he had put in place when he had bought his house. He was at home.

So it had all been resolved without him. He had been useless yet again.

Fai opened his eyes, and it was bright. So bright. Sunlight streamed through the curtains. He squinted and quietly groaned, hands coming up to cover his eyes.

“You’re awake.”

And there was Kurogane. Of course.

“Hi there, Mister Muscles,” he croaked, his voice weary from disuse. “Sorry about that. Where’s Sakura?”

“She and the kid are going to that apothecary to talk to four-eyes. She’s been worried out of her skull.” Kurogane was sitting next to his bed in the chair from Fai’s desk. There were shadows under his eyes.

“I’ll have to apologize to her,” Fai said. “Is there enough daytime left to go back to the obsidian?”

Kurogane’s eyes widened. “Go back to the - witch, you’ve been out for _three days_. We thought you would _die.”_

 _Three days_ \- by the solar eclipse, that was the longest yet… had the space in the obsidian really been so consuming?

And the solstice. The solstice was _tomorrow_.

“I need to go,” Fai said urgently, trying to get out of bed. “I have business.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Kurogane growled, stopping him with a hand to the shoulder. “You stay there. I carried you all the way back here, you’re going to _rest_."

A few days ago, something would have lit up in Fai’s chest at the knowledge that Kurogane had held him. But at that moment, he was too empty and exhausted and _terrified_ to care. “Fine. Fine, whatever. What happened to what Sakura and I found in the obsidian?”

Kurogane squinted at him in confusion for a moment, then said, “You mean those egg pieces? Your apprentice brought it back. It’s on your office desk. Do you want me to get it?”

His stomach curdled at the thought of seeing the evidence of his guilt. “No. It’s fine.”

“Do you want some water or something?”

His concern was very touching, but unwarranted. Fai took a deep breath that trembled in his lungs. “Kurogane, I need you to do something for me. It will be… well, not some water. It will be a great favor.”

Kurogane leaned toward him. “What is it?”

Forcing these words from his throat was so difficult. Especially to Kurogane, from whom he so dearly wanted respect. But he would have to bare his throat now. He needed to stop being selfish. “I need you to kill me.”

At first Kurogane visibly didn’t comprehend what he had said. But his face quickly set into shocked rage. _“What the fuck_ , witch? _Explain.”_

“To save the town,” Fai replied quietly, shrinking at Kurogane’s mounting anger. “I’m the cause of all this. I didn’t know, I swear. But now that I _do_ , we can put a stop to all of this. _You_ can.”

“What the fuck are you even talking about?!” Kurogane demanded. _“Kill you?_ What the fuck?”

 _“I’m the phoenix!”_ Fai cried. “It’s so obvious, you all suspect me. I’m the one bringing the sunlight to Fairhaven!”

“There’s no proof!” Kurogane yelled back. “I’m not gonna do something stupid without reason!”

 _“There is proof!”_ Fai said, trying to clamber out of bed. He felt so stupid and useless just lying there, as if he didn’t already know what had to be done. “The phoenix tattoo - Ashura summoned a phoenix into my body, and Yuuko stopped it before I could destroy the town, but not before I was _changed!_ Before my fate was rewritten into something different! The feathers Yuuko had, those were from _me_. And when I got all the power of the resident witch, I started making this horrible drought with it unconsciously - I was pouring phoenix magic into the Fount! The-the reason I’m fainting, is because I can’t sustain the power of the phoenix because I’m _weak_ , I’m too weak to handle it. Kurogane, you _have to_. It just makes too much sense.”

“That’s not the conclusions I drew!” Kurogane spat, grabbing Fai’s shoulders and forcing him to sit back in bed. _“Slow the fuck down.”_

Fai needed to dig in deeper. Stars above, he usually admired Kurogane’s noble nature - it was one of the main reasons he was so fond of him - but right now he _hated_ it. “Isn't _the point of you_ is to kill something that would _endanger people?_ You _have_ to stop thinking of me as human because I'm _not_ , I haven't been since I was twelve  _fucking_ years old! You said so yourself, it's not about good or bad, it's about protecting people! What the hell are you waiting for? _Kill me_ and save the town!”

“I’m not just going to _fucking kill you_ without evidence - “ Kurogane began, but Fai cut through him.

“You should have just killed me the night we met, so you wouldn't be _fucking hesitating!"_

Kurogane’s eyes widened. He looked as if Fai had slapped him. “Don’t say that,” he said. “Don’t you _ever_ say that. Don’t you treat your life as so disposable. It’s not to anyone in this town."

“Fairhaven will be better off without me!” Fai cried. “Kimihiro can replace me, or maybe even Sakura, she’s powerful enough - there any number of other witches in the area who could do as good as me - or even better, because I couldn’t even fix this when it was _coming from me!"_

“You’re not replaceable!” Kurogane just _wasn’t getting it_. “Your apprentice and the apothecary guy and the librarian and the seals, they all want you around. They’ll miss you. I’ll - “

Fai cut him off, not wanting to hear whatever Kurogane was going to say, knowing it would be too enticing. “They’ll _get over it_. And they’ll be _happy_ that the drought is over and that the Folk haven’t left and that dark creatures aren’t running around Fairhaven!”

“And _you’ll_ be gone!” Kurogane retorted. “Don’t be selfish!”

“I’m trying _not_ to be! I shouldn’t even _be here!"_

Kurogane stopped cold. “What do you mean?”

“I should have had my throat _slit_ just like Y-Yu - ” And oh Mercury, here came the tears. Fuck. “If Yuuko had just... _disposed_ of me like she did Ashura that day, I wouldn’t be carrying around this fucking curse that’s killing Fairhaven.”

“You’re talking out of your ass!” Kurogane said. “If Yuuko was so _wise_ and _powerful_ as she was supposed to be, then she would have sensed whatever bullshit curse you _think_ you’re carrying around. So obviously you’re fine! And killing you would hurt the city in the long run, if you’re not _here_ to _protect it.”_

“... but what other solution can there possibly _be?”_ Fai replied quietly, the fight drained out of him, curling up and burying his face in his knees. “This is all that I have. My stupid _fucking_ life.”

“I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out.” Fai felt a hand lightly touch the top of his head.

“‘We’?” Fai said, lifting his head to look at Kurogane. The man looked strung out, but determined regardless. And there was something Fai couldn’t identify in his eyes, something that tempted him to thoughts he couldn’t afford. Thoughts he didn’t have time for. “Aren’t you meant to wander around the country, with no time to kill on fools like me, with my useless rocks and plants?” he asked, trying to inject some of his old teasing tone, but he was so _exhausted_ that it sounded more watery than anything.

Kurogane coughed, pulling in towards himself. “It’s - Fairhaven’s a good town. I can see why you… love it.”

A laugh rattled out of Fai. The hunter wanted to stay while the witch wanted to leave. Funny how things worked out sometimes.

“Fairhaven won’t be very livable for much longer,” Fai murmured, playing with the ends of his hair. “You might want to get out while you can.”

“It’s not the fucking _buildings_ or if the lawns are green,” Kurogane grumbled, looking resolutely out of the window. “It’s the people. I found people I want to protect.” He cleared his throat, visibly uncomfortable. “That’s. That’s why I can’t kill you.”

Fai’s eyes widened. “... come again?” And he took a breath, about to ask what Kurogane meant by that, what on earth was he playing at - he couldn’t just imply such a thing when there was a good chance Fai was about to -

And then his phone rang from his nightside stand. Both of them jumped, and Fai looked at the caller ID - it was Watanuki. He picked it up, tapping receive. “Kimihiro? What is it?”

“Fai, you need to come to the shop _right now,”_ crackled Watanuki’s voice. "Something's happening and we need you here."

“ _What?"_  Fai asked, already pulling off the covers and stumbling to his shoes. He was still in most of his clothes from the other day. Kurogane stood with him, staying at his elbow, staring at him in confusion. “Is Sakura okay? What’s going on?”

“It… it _is_ Sakura. I told you I’d been feeling Yuuko around town, ever since I came back, and this was my first time actually _meeting_ Sakura, and - and I didn’t know, so I just showed her the feathers and - and -”

“Kimihiro, calm down and get to the point,” Fai ordered, grabbing his keys and bag, Kurogane following doggedly after him. _“What happened.”_

“Sakura is Yuuko’s reincarnation. They're the phoenix.”

-

Kurogane drove wildly over the speed limit to the Doumeki apothecary, and from the moment Fai barreled out of the passenger door, knees barely able to support him (he seemed to have recovered enough physically to wake up, but not nearly enough of his magical power), he knew something was amiss. The magical currents in the air were going haywire, overloaded with an amount of power that he had never felt before. The air had become blisteringly hot, sweat already pouring down their faces and backs. And most noticeable of all - blinding light shone out of the windows of the shop.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered Kurogane, but Kurogane grabbed his arm.

“No way in hell,” Kurogane said. “You can still barely stand. You think I don’t notice?”

Fai grimaced, but nodded.

Kurogane opened the door and there, hovering in the middle of the air, surrounded by light and flame, was Sakura. Her eyes were closed, her arms were splayed out, and a pair of brilliant red wings splayed out from her back.

Doumeki, Himawari, and Syaoran were crouched behind the counter, while Watanuki was sitting atop it, holding his hands out in front of him, expression strained. “Fai!” he grit out. “Thank the moon you’re here - I’m trying to keep it all contained, but I can’t for much longer - “

"What happened?" Fai said, unable to look away from Sakura - or rather, the being that Sakura was a part of.

Watanuki winced. “I barely know - she came here with Syaoran, and I felt Yuuko’s presence so _strongly_ \- and I had this compulsion to go get one of the phoenix feathers and give it to her, I don’t know _why_ but I did - and as soon as she touched it, there was this burst of light, and then these _wings_ happened - do you know anything about this?!”

He found that he did. He understood everything, now. And he knew exactly what to do. He felt oddly calm about it.

Fai turned to Kurogane, dear Kurogane, with his broad shoulders and strong arms and heart full of bravery and duty. Kurogane, who he would have liked to know better. “Mister Amamiya,” he murmured, moving to him. “I’m very sorry. I’m so, so sorry. We could have had something wonderful.”

Kurogane looked down at him in panic with those eyes, those red eyes, those eyes that had always seen too much. “Witch, what are you going to - “

Fai leaned up and kissed him on the cheek once, softly as he could. “Thank you for all your concern and care and affection. I’m sorry I didn’t see it. I’m sorry it came down to this. But you should know that I do, too.”

“Witch - “

“Kimihiro, let down your containment,” Fai called over, moving to just in front of what they had thought had just been one young woman. “I can put an end to this.”

Watanuki looked incredulously at him. “Fai, she’s consuming magic at a ridiculous rate - there's a _reason_  I'm not standing - it’s too dangerous!”

 _“Lower it!”_ he commanded him. “Please, Kimihiro. For the sake of our town, I must ask this of you.”

“But you’ll - “

“I know what will happen.”

Watanuki looked close to tears - Fai felt terrible for having him do this, ashes to ashes, brothers to brothers - but he dropped the field.

Immediately, the room got hotter and brighter, and what was left of his magic started bleeding out of him again, and he was lifted up into the air to be face to face with the muddle of souls and lives that was the phoenix. She opened her eyes.

“Fai Flowright,” she said in so many voices.

“Yuuko. Sakura. All the rest,” he replied. “It’s wonderful to meet you, and to have you back.”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Sustaining you,” he replied. “That’s what I’ve _been_ doing, haven’t I? Any time Sakura used too much magic for her development, it was siphoned from me. That’s what caused my fatigue - her fledgling magic attached itself to mine. The same happened on a grander scale when I touched the remains of the egg - your most fundamental essence - in your most recent hatching grounds. All of it because your magic has grown accustomed to drinking from mine.”

Thinking back, he didn’t know how he had missed it. The mornings, when Sakura would bless the dying gardens with all her might. The evening of the gulon hunt, when Sakura finished a ritual on her potion. In the obsidian space, when it had been _Sakura_ who had made the path of light.

She nodded. “We apologize. Rebirth always begins weakly - our newest life does not always have the experience necessary to control our powers. You and your city have been getting the brunt of that, ever since we were reborn in April as our current soul.”

Where Fai had been furious at himself when he thought he was the cause, he found he was okay with learning this. “It’s alright,” he said. “You’re Sakura and Yuuko, I could never be angry. That’s why Sakura doesn’t have memories, huh? She’s both younger and older than we thought... and I suppose adopting her is a way of repaying you, Yuuko. You took care of me for so many years, saved my life when I was meant to destroy you - that’s what Ashura’s ritual was meant to do, right? Take the phoenix from you and put all that power into me. And then you spared me... it's a life debt. I at least owe you this.”

“I did not save your life for you to sacrifice yourself,” the phoenix said.

 _“Sacrifice yourself?”_ Watanuki and Kurogane yelled from the ground. Fai ignored them.

“It’s what needs to be done,” he replied with the best smile he could muster. “You need to stay alive. Fairhaven would not have the magic it needs without the phoenix’s presence, but with your current unstable form it will be torched to the ground. If I give you my life and the rest of my magic, Sakura will be able to control her magic. I’m okay with this. And if I do this, I can repay Yuui for his death, and I can make up for what Ashura did. It’s a way of fixing this _cycle_ of apprentices and teachers. I consider it an even exchange.”

“That’s all fine and good, but your opinion is not the only one that matters here,” the phoenix said. “What one considers equal, another may not. And no one else in this room, including me, considers that equal.”

“But - it'll be fine. Kimihiro can be the resident witch, he was taught under you, and he can continue Sakura’s training. It’ll be fine, and Fairhaven will have rain again. Your sunlight will go away.”

“We’re not talking about your position. That is beside all of this. You have done so much good, touched so many hearts. You are so unfailingly kind. Why do you think you were the one to find us?”

Fai thought back to that early April day, when he had found Sakura, newly reborn and sleeping in his garden, entrusted to his care by an ancient being. The way it had felt natural to take her in. “I’m proud to have been the one selected for that task,” he mustered. “But I want to continue my duty and continuing repaying my debt to you. That is the best thing I could do - my death will mean something, then.”

The phoenix sent him a quelling look, and in it Fai could see both the chastising glare of his apprentice for endangering himself in the forest alongside a beloved memory of his teacher bandaging his back. “You say that, still aching for your brother every time you think of him? You say that, thinking of your old teacher every day?”

“... they were worth more than me,” he murmured, choking on rising tears. “I am not much, in the grand scheme of things. They’ll get over it.”

“They never will. You are _important to them._ You are indispensable in their lives. Who would take care of Sakura like you do? Who will aid Kimihiro like you do? Who will soften and settle Kurogane like you do? Whatever the past was, whatever you think it _should_ have been, it’s over now. Your debts have been paid long ago. You need to move forward and cherish the people who want you - _you_ \- in their lives. You have so many futures that have only just begun.”

And then Kurogane broke in through the heat and light. “Fai. Listen to her. _Please_.” And a part of him wanted to laugh at how this is what it took for Kurogane to learn some manners. He looked down at Kurogane, who was gazing up at him with such _fear_ , fear that he had never seen in brave, noble Kurogane before. He had said his name, which he so rarely did - and it was filled with love, heartbreakingly so. Fai could barely comprehend it - what has he done to deserve this from a man such as Kurogane - but at the same time, he knew.

He wanted whatever future was in store for them. He wanted it so badly.

“I’m so selfish,” he murmured, drifting back down to earth. “I’m so selfish.”

The phoenix smiled down at him, so kindly that it hurt. “That’s all right. As long as you know that you are loved.”

Kurogane caught him as he fell, taking him into his arms so gently that it brought forth more tears. Fai buried his face in his neck. Kurogane held him tightly, as if that would prevent him from drifting away again, and he might be right in that. He had never truly allowed himself to lean on Kurogane like this, but sun above, he had wanted to. It felt like respite. It felt like home.

“Fai. You know what truly has to be done,” the phoenix said.

He swallowed, wiping his tears on Kurogane’s shoulder. Kurogane’s hand came up and stroked through his hair so gently it _hurt_. “Yes. I don’t want to use it."

“But you must. For all of our sakes.”

“Yes. I must.”

He looks up at Kurogane’s dear face, who was staring at him in wonder and terror, staring at him as if that would keep him there in this world. And for now, it would. It would.

The two of them went to the back of the shop, into the store house. Kurogane carried most of his weight - the natural absorption of an unbridled juvenile phoenix, especially one that had been drinking from him for the past half year, had drained him of most of his strength. But that was all right. Kurogane was strong enough for the both of them.

Fai guided them to the very back of the store house, where the fan that beared his tattoo lay. His hand trembled as he reached out and picked it up, staring at the pattern that had haunted his dreams for so many years. He had not seen it since Yuuko had placed it here, but it was still burned into his mind.

He held it close to his chest and wept, wept for his lost brother, his corrupted father, his violently ended childhood. “No more,” he choked out. “No more. End this exchange. Settle these debts. I'm  _done_ _._ I don't want this for her."

“She’ll be fine,” Kurogane said, clutching him close. “You’ll be fine. We all want you here.”

“I’m sorry for doing this to you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I’ve been so selfish. You stand on your own… you’re so complete. I don’t know what you see in me.”

“Idiot.” Kurogane said. His hands were tight around him. “I’ve told you over and over that I don’t care. I don’t give a _shit_ about all these stupid debts you care so much about. All I want is you, safe and alive and _happy_ , because for some reason I like you way too much, but you seem determined to make that _impossible."_

Fai chuckled wetly. “So _mean_ , snugglebug. And for a second there I thought you learned some manners.”

 _“Bugs aren’t snuggly,”_ Kurogane muttered. “Those stupid fuckin’ nicknames.”

“Would you prefer me to not use them?” Fai asked, half-seriously.

 _“Fuck_ no.” Kurogane picked him up bodily and carried him to the front, ignoring Fai’s weak laughter.

“You’re such a _caveman_ , cupcake!”

They reached the front, and when Fai showed the phoenix the fan she smiled, pleased, and drifted down to the ground. He pressed it to her back, and with a final push of magic (all that he could muster, all that he had left) and sheer love for his ward and his town (and that, he had no limit to) he printed it on her.

The light died down, and the air cooled. Fai felt his magic, all the magic that had been collected over the past eight months, flow back into him.

Sakura’s magic had been restrained, sealed away until she was old and trained enough to control it, but for the purpose of love and safety this time. It was not magic to cause suffering. It had been asked for. It was an equal exchange.

She fell into Fai’s arms, and blinked up dazedly at him. Her eyes were green and only her own now. “Fai…” she murmured. “What…?”

Then she stood bolt upright. _“Sun above!”_ she exclaimed. “Oh, Fai, I’m so, _so sorry_ … I didn’t know, I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“You never did,” Fai said, hugging her. “There are no hard feelings, sweetheart. You had no idea. It’s alright. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad _you’re_ okay!” she said, flinging her arms around his neck. “I-I’ll do all of the chores for a _year -_  the drought, oh sun and stars, Fai I am _so sorry_.”

“Fuck, you two are the _same,”_ Kurogane grumbled, dragging a hand down his face. “Stop apologizing for shit that you didn’t actually _do.”_

“Stop being so reticent with your _feelings!"_  Fai replied, pinching Kurogane’s cheek. “Just tell her you’re glad she’s okay. It’s not that difficult, huggybear.”

“Shut _up!"_  Kurogane snapped, swatting at Fai, who easily dodged his hand. “Don’t think that just because of all of this shit I’m gonna go easy on you! When I get my hands on you - “

 _"Ooooooh_ , tell me _more!"_  Fai shot back, laughing. It felt so good to tease Kurogane again, with shoulders lighter and affections returned.

“Sakura! Kurogane! Mr. Flowright!” Syaoran called from the storefront. “Look outside!”

Fai turned his head - no, it couldn’t be…

The sunlight had cleared. It was snowing outside.

Everyone ran out and stood in the street, Sakura dragging Syaoran by the hand, Watanuki and Himawari huddled in Doumeki’s big coat, and Fai pressed close to Kurogane. They all stared up at the cloudy sky and the white flakes drifting gently down. It was a little ridiculous, considering they were all wearing summer clothes. And it was incredibly improbable, considering that the weather had been fifty degrees hotter just five minutes ago. But such was magic.

“Fai!” Sakura exclaimed, running up to him. “This is _snow!_ I kind of remember it, but not really? It’s really weird in my head now - lots of stuff, all jumbled - but it’s okay. But anyway, this is _amazing!_ It’s so _cold!_ And - “

“Slow down, honey,” Fai laughed. “Just appreciate it. It’s neat, right?”

She nodded quickly. _“It’s amazing.”_

“It’s just _snow,”_ Kurogane grumbled. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

In a fit of daring, Fai popped up on his tip toes and pressed a kiss to Kurogane’s lips. “And _that_ was just a kiss, big guy. What do you think of _that?”_

Much to his amusement, Kurogane went a fantastic shade of vermillion. Oh, he was a _blusher_. This was going to be _so much fun_. “Wh - you can’t just - “ he spluttered.

Fai tucked himself under Kurogane’s arm, snaking an arm around his big burly waist. It felt so good to let himself interact with Kurogane just as he wanted to. “I can’t what, big guy?”

Kurogane grumbled under his breath, something about _damn witch_ and _give me some warning next time_ , but clutched him close.

The future looked delightfully rainy and delightfully full.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Lore notes!](http://robinauts.dreamwidth.org/1927.html)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! This grew wildly out of control, but I had a great time writing it. ~~Be sure to go vote for it[here on Dreamwidth.](http://kurofai.dreamwidth.org/94198.html)~~
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Voting goes til August 26! You have to vote on DW, not on AO3, but you don't need a DW account to participate. Come join in the fun and give all of the authors some love! We all worked incredibly hard. (But also feel free to leave a comment here on AO3, because they bring me joy and I appreciate them.)~~
> 
>  
> 
> If you'd like to reblog the Official Post for this fic on tumblr, [here it is](http://animestump.tumblr.com/post/148865589919)! I would love and appreciate it if you did. :)
> 
> Stay tuned - I want to write a prequel about Watanuki (and more about his relationship with HImawari and Doumeki and also Fai), and a short domestic sequel, a year in the future. from Kurogane's POV about KF being an actual couple and how that works in this AU (spoilers: they kiss a lot and it's great). Tell me what you you'd like to see first if you comment!
> 
> Thanks so much to Elodie ([pirepoumon](http://www.pirepoumon.tumblr.com)/[seishirosakurazuka](http://www.seishirosakurazuka.tumblr.com)) and Ty ([kuyadohko](http://www.kuyadohko.tumblr.com)) and my coach Koi ([badluck_koi](http://www.badluck_koi.dreamwidth.org)) for all of their help and cheerleading. I really, honest-to-god couldn't have done it without all of your support.
> 
> By the way, the title is from "The Phoenix" by Fall Out Boy. If you caught that, you may have been guessing at the plot of the fic way before everyone else.
> 
> EDIT: oh my god??? ty kuyadohko made a playlist for this!! and it's so good!!! go right now and listen to it [here](http://8tracks.com/twhy2/oh-sun-and-stars)!!!!
> 
> 9/23/2016 - Just wanna say a quick MASSIVE thank you to everyone who scored my fic so kindly!! I ended up tying for most enjoyable and got SECOND OVERALL with a score of 9.6. That's amazing! I never anticipated the response this would get. I'm so grateful and so happy. I don't always have the mental energy to write but this has really bolstered my work ethic.  
> Now that I've finished editing the fic, I'm hoping to get to work on the two others I have planned for the Fairhaven AU... however, school just started for me so please be patient!! I'll do the best that I can. I owe it to all of you!


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